NA 


O 
Q 


DEVELOPMENT    AND 
PRESENT  STATUS  OF 

CITY   PLANNING 

IN  NEW  YORK  CITY 


\ 


Development    and    Present    Status   of 
City  Planning  in  New  V(:>rk  City 


Being  the  Report  of  the  Committee 
on  the  City  Plan,  December  .'51,  1914, 
together  with  papers  presented  at  a 
meeting  of  the  Advisory  Commission 
on    City    Plan,    December  17,  1914 


CITi'  OF  NEW  YORK 

BOARD  OF   ESTIMATE   AND   APPORTIONMENT 

COMMITTEE  ON  THE  CITY  PLAN 

1914 


Committee  on  the  City  Plan 

George  McAneny,  President,  Board  of  Aldermen 

Chairman 
Marcus  M.  Marks,  President,  Borough  of  Manhattan 
Lewis  H.  Pounds,  President,  Borough  of  Brooklyn 
Douglas  Mathewson,  President,  Borough  of  The  Bronx 
Maurice  E.  Connolly,  President,  Borough  of  Queens 
Charles  J.  McCormack,  President,  Borough  of  Richmond 

Robert    H.    Written,    Secretary 

George  B.  Ford,  Consultant 


Advisory  Commission  on  City  Plan 

Charles  D.  Norton  Richard  M.  Hurd 

Chairman  Robert  D.  Kohn 

Frederic  B.  Pratt  C.  Grant  LaFarge 

Vice-Chairman     E.  E.  Looms 
Edward  M.  Bassett  Milo  R.  Maltbie 

Edward  W.  Brown  Cyrus  C.  Miller 

Arnold  W.  Brunner  John  J.  Murphy 

Irving  T.  Bush  E.  H.  Outerbridge 

John  M.  Demarest  William  Barclay  Parsons 

Michael  Furst       ,  ,    ,.  ,'VyiLpiAM  Allaire  Shortt 

Herbert  F.  Gun>;130n    ,  V  i  ;.E. 'liEHASs  Simonson 
J.  Monroe  H^:w,l,ett.-  .  ,•>;  <  DaniSl'- L.  Turner 
Robert  W.  Hi&fiite'  :  ,■  '  '■   '  '  •  ■  F-RANlf  B.  Williams 


306147 


NEW  YORK  AND  VICINITY 


CONTENTS 

I'AGK 

Cliaptcr  I— Work  of  \hv  {'.nHniittcc  on  tlic  City  Plan :  Report  to  the 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  by  the  Committee  on 
the  City  Plan '7 

Papers  Presented  at  tlie  ^leetin^  of  the  Advisory  Connnission  on  City 
Plan,  December  17,  1914— 

Chapter  II — Work  of  Earlier  Pliuuiin>.-  Connnissions— Robert 

11.  Whittcn    13 

Cli.il^ter  III— Development  of  tlie  Official  City  :\Iap  since  1898 
and  tiie  Work  of  the  New  York  City  Improvement  Com- 
mission— Nelson   P.   Lewis 19 

Ciiapter    I\'— Work    of    the    Hrooklyii    Coniiuittee    on    the    City 

Plan— Frederic    H.     Pratt 29 

Ciia]>ter  V— Development   of  I'ort  and  'I'erminal   Facilities— E. 

P.  Goodrich 33 

Chapter  VI— Transit  Development— D.  I,.  Turner 38 

Chai)tcr  VII— Recreation.  Civic  Arciiitecturc,  Building  Dis- 
tricts and  General  Summary  of  Present  City  Planning 
Needs— George   R.    Ford 52 


Ilmsiuations 

New  York  City  and  \icinity 4 

Plate  I— Plan  of  Ruilt-rj.  Section  of  New  York  City,  1797 15 

I'late  II— Map  of  .Manhattan  Street  System  Laid  out  by  Commis- 
sioners of  1807 opp.      1 6 

Plate  III— Portion  of  l-'inal  :\Iap,  Borough  of  Queens 21 

Plate  IV — General   ^Ia]i   SJiowing  Chief  Recommendations   of   New 

York  City   Improvement  Commission opp.      22 

Plate  \' — General  Maj)  Showing  Ciianges  in  Street  System  Recom- 
mended by  E.  H.  Bennett,  Architect  for  the  Rrooklyn  Commit- 
tee on  City  Plan oi)|).      30 

Plate  \l — Park  and  Playground  System  Reconnnended  by  E.  H. 
Bennett,  Architect  for  the  Brooklyn  Connnittee  on  City 
Plan ojip.      .•}2 


PAGE 

Plate  VII — Map  showing  Docks  and  Terminals  in  New  York  City.  .  35 
Plate  VIII — Comparing  Subway  and  Elevated  Lines   for  Interbor- 

ough  Operation  Under  Present  and  New  Dual  System i3 

Plate    IX — Comparing    Lines    for    Municipal    Railway    Operation 

Under  Present  and  New  Dual  System 45 

Plate   X — Showing   Station   Zones    Under    Present    and    New    Dual 

System 47 

Plate  XI — Diagram  Showing  Existing  and  New  Track  Capacity.  .  49 
Plate   XII — Plan   of  Portion   of   Central   Park   Showing   Informal 

Landscape  Design 53 

Plate  XIII — Map  Showing  Parks  and  Parkways  in  New  York  City 

and  Vicinity 55 

Plate    XIV — Manhattan    Bridge — Proposed    Manhattan    Terminal 

and  Plaza '. 61 

Plate  XV — New  Elevated  Railroad  Structure  in  Queens 63 

Plate  XVI— Forest  Hills  Gardens,  Station  Plaza 65 

Plate  XVII — Bowne  Memorial  Fountain — Accepted   and   Rejected 

Designs 67 

Plate  XVIII— Map  of  Unimproved  Property  in  The  Bronx 68 

Plate  XIX — Map  of  Prevailing  Land  Values  in  Brooklyn 69 

Plate  XX — Use  of  Artificial  Light  in  Offices   on  Exchange  Place 

from  Board  Street  to  Broadway 71 

Plate    XXI — Map    Showing    Height    Districting    in    Washington, 

D.  C opp.     72 


CllAl'TER   I 

\\'ork  of  the  Committee  on  the  City  Phui :  lleport  to  the  Board 

of  ]<],stimate  and  Apportionment  hy  the  Committee 

on  the  City  Plan,  December  31,  1914 

In  re-organizing  its  Committee  system  in  January,  191-1,  the  Board 
of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  established  a  standing  Committee  on 
the  City  Plan.  In  recommending  the  creation  of  this  committee,  the 
Committee  on  Organization  of  the  Board  stated  in  its  report  as  follows : 

To  this  Committee  it  is  proposed  to  commit  all  larger  questions  of  public 
improvements.  This  Committee,  ropreseuting  as  it  does  all  the  boroughs  of  the 
City,  will  be  in  an  advantageous  position  to  work  out  a  harmonious  plan  for  public 
improvement  and  development.  It  is  expected  that  eventually  the  Committee  will 
formulate  a  general  scheme  for  improvement  with  which  all  local  improvements 
will  be  co-ordinate<l.  City  planning  is  a  prime  need  in  the  City,  and  one  which  In 
the  judgment  of  your  sub-committee  demands  a  Standing  Committee  of  this  Board. 

It  was  not  intended  that  the  Committee  on  the  City  Plan  should 
undertake  the  work  of  any  existing  city  departments,  borough  authorities 
or  other  official  agencies.  Its  chief  function  is  that  of  correlation.  The 
physical  development  of  tlie  City  is  now  being  planned  by  various  agencies, 
chief  among  which  arc  the  topograpiiic  bureaus  of  the  various  boroughs, 
the  Bureau  of  Public  Improvements  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Appor- 
tionment, the  borough  highway,  building  and  sewer  departments,  the  bor- 
ough park  departments,  the  Dock  Department,  the  Bridge  Department, 
the  Department  of  Water  Supply  and  the  Public  Service  Commission. 
The  City  Plan  Committee  will  consider  plans  for  specific  local  improve- 
ments presented  by  the  borough  authorities  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
interests  of  the  entire  City.  Plans  presented  by  the  various  departments 
will  be  examined  to  see  whether  they  conform  to  the  requirements  of  a 
general  city  plan  that  provides  adequately  for  all  municipal  functions  and 
for  all  sections  of  the  City.  The  rcscarciies  of  the  City  Plan  Committee 
into  the  future  growth  and  requirements  will  enable  it  to  look  a  little 
further  into  the  future  than  would  be  practicable  for  the  officials  of  a  bor- 
ough or  department,  and  to  grasp  the  needs  and  requirements  of  the  entire 
City  as  a  unit  more  clearly  than  is  possible  for  an  official  dealing  with  a 
particular  section  or  with  a  particular  function.  Witiiout  usurping  the 
atithority  of  any  existing  official  to  originate  and  be  responsible  for  de- 
velopments of  a  particular  class,  the  Committee  can  so  supplement  and 
correlate  the  work  of  the  various  borough  and  central  authorities,  that 
their  plans  will  not  conflict  one  with  tiie  otiicr,  but  will  all  work  toward 
the  carrying  out  of  a  single  compreiiensive  scheme  of  city  development. 


8  C  t/JIMITTEE   ON    THE    CITY   PLAN 

But  before  the  Committee  can  "  correlate  "  very  wisely  it  must  have 
a  comprehensive  plan.  Accordingly  as  a  first  step  the  Committee,  soon 
after  its  organization,  adopted  a  resolution  authorizing  its  secretary  to 
proceed  with  the  "  collection  of  fundamental  data  essential  to  an  estimate 
of  future  growth  and  requirements."  The  Committee  felt  that  in  order  to 
obtain  a  proper  vision  of  the  needs  and  requirements  of  the  City  as  a 
whole,  much  research  and  investigation  were  essential.  In  order  to  plan 
the  development  of  the  City  we  should  know,  in  the  first  place,  the  func- 
tion performed  by  the  City  in  the  work  of  the  State,  the  Nation,  and  the 
world  at  large.  What  are  the  industrial,  commercial  and  financial  reasons 
for  the  development  and  growth  of  the  City.''  Moreover,  research  in  re- 
gard to  the  existing  physical,  social  and  industrial  conditions  that  de- 
termine the  best  plan  for  a  city,  can  seldom  stop  with  the  existing  political 
boundary  of  the  city.  The  minimum  area  that  can  profitably  be  consid- 
ered in  determining  the  future  plan  for  a  great  city  like  New  York,  is 
probably  the  area  that  may  be  reached  within  one  hour  by  the  most  rapid 
means  of  communication  at  present  developed  for  tlie  transportation  of 
passengers. 

Through  the  work  of  tlie  topograpliical  bureaus,  the  City  has,  since 
1902,  been  developing  the  physical  data  requisite  for  comprehensive  city 
planning.  Somewhat  similar  data,  though  in  less  detail,  will  have  to  be 
secured  for  the  areas  outside  the  present  boroughs,  but  within  the  metro- 
politan district.  In  addition  to  this  data  in  relation  to  contours  and 
topographic  features,  it  is  necessary  to  collect  a  large  amount  of  funda- 
mental data  on  which  to  base  an  estimate  of  future  growth  and  require- 
ments. In  order  to  plan  for  the  present  and  for  tlie  future,  a  picture  is 
needed  of  what  the  City  will  or  should  look  like,  in  25,  50  or  100  years, 
when  it  has  from  two  to  five  times  the  population  that  it  has  at  present. 
A  study  is  required  of  the  probable  growth  and  distribution  of  population 
and  of  the  probable  development  of  business  and  industry.  As  a  basis  for 
this  long  look  ahead,  it  is  desirable  to  make  a  careful  study  of  past  growth 
and  distribution  of  population,  and  of  the  development  and  change  of 
business,  industrial  and  residential  centers.  In  addition  traffic  studies  are 
necessary,  showing  the  movement  of  population  over  the  transit  lines,  the 
vehicular  traffic  in  the  streets,  and  the  movement  of  goods  by  water,  rail 
and  truck.  Insofar  as  possible  our  data  in  relation  to  population,  build- 
ing development,  transit  and  traffic,  must  show  both  present  and  past 
conditions.  Any  plans  for  the  future  will  be  based  largely  on  the  ex- 
perience of  the  past.  Existing  conditions  are  the  result  of  past  growth, 
and  can  only  be  clearly  understood  in  the  light  of  such  growth.  We  are 
not  planning  for  a  new  city,  but  for  tlie  better  and  more  orderly'  growtli 
of  a  city  already  great  and  long  established.  Many  lines  of  development 
are  already  fixed  and  cannot  be  changed,  even  if  it  were  desirable  to  do 
so.     Improvements  now  under  way,  such  as  the  dual  subway  system,  and 


dock  and  terminal  iiiiproMiiurits,  will  lix  cirtaiii  lines  of  (iovclopim'iit  for 
the  next  25  years  at  least,  anil  will  make  it  })ossible  to  plan  for  future 
structural  dcvelojjnient  of  the  City  with  greater  certainty. 

As  a  start  toward  obtaining  tiic  data  essential  to  an  estimate  of 
future  growth  and  requirements,  the  staff  of  the  Committee  on  the  City 
Plan  is  now  at  work  on  three  general  lines  of  investigation: 

1.  To  show  the  movement  of  population,  data  is  being  compiled 
from  the  State  and  United  States  censuses.  This  data  is  charted  so  as 
to  show  the  movement  of  population  in  very  small  areas,  thus  rendering  it 
j)ossiblc  to  make  intensive  studies  as  to  the  effect  of  sj)ecific  improvements 
and  changes  upon  the  distribution  of  population. 

2.  Data  and  maps  arc  being  preinircd  to  show  for  various  jxriods 
the  closely  built  up  sections,  the  development  and  change  of  commercial, 
industrial  and  residential  districts  and  the  total  land  area  devoted  to 
industrial  uses.  These  charts  are  being  c()m]>ile(l  from  the  atlases  ])ub- 
lished  for  different  periods. 

;}.  Time  and  fare  zone  transit  maps  are  being  ))repared.  These 
maps  will  show  the  time  required  to  travel  from  any  part  of  the  City  to 
the  City  Hall.  Taken  in  connection  with  our  population  charts  and 
charts  showing  existing  building  development,  they  will  facilitate  the 
making  of  intensive  studies  as  to  the  effect  of  specific  improvements  in 
transit  facilities  upon  the  distribution  of  population  and  will  thus  give 
a  better  basis  for  estimating  the  effect  of  the  dual  subway  system  or  other 
proposed  transit  developments. 

Data  will  be  prepared  showing  by  small  districts  the  location  of 
factory  and  other  workers.  The  planning  of  the  housing  of  the  com- 
munity will  be  largely  determined  by  the  probable  location  and  extent  of 
the  industrial  districts.  The  location  of  industrial  districts  is  in  turn 
large!}-  determined  by  the  location  of  docks  and  terminals.  Charts  being 
prepared  will  show  the  development  from  period  to  period  of  docks  and 
terminals,  and  statistics  of  improved  waterfront  used  in  connection  with 
statistics  of  amount  of  imports  and  exports  will  aid  in  an  estimate  of 
the  mileage  and  location  of  improved  waterfront  that  will  be  required  to 
handle  several  times  the  present  commerce  of  the  port.  Likewise,  the 
charts  showing  the  location,  development  and  change  of  industrial  dis- 
tricts, together  with  statistics  as  to  the  total  amount  of  land  area  devoted 
to  factories  will  give  some  basis  for  an  estimate  of  the  extent  and  location 
of  factory  districts  when  the  population  of  the  City  Ikin  (loulilcd  .iiid  the 
output  of  factories  has  increased  two  or  more  times. 

Little  imagination  and  no  research  is  required  to  justify  tlie  as- 
sumption for  the  future  of  a  population  several  times  the  present  within 
the  New  York  Metropolitan  District.  It  does  require  considerable  imagi- 
nation assisted  by  the  most  careful  research  to  determine  the  probjible 
distribution  of  the  future  population  and  the  probable  location  and  ex- 


10  COMMITTEE  ON   THE   CITY   PLAN 

tent  of  business  and  industrial  centers.  Tlie  probable  order  of  develop- 
ment is  also  extremely  important.  It  is  not  only  important  to  know  what 
areas  will  eventually  be  needed  for  port  development  or  for  park  purposes 
but  also  the  probable  order  in  which  the  various  available  areas  will  be 
developed. 

The  work  of  the  Committee  in  correlating  the  entire  work  of  carrying 
out  the  city  plan  involves  not  only  the  development  and  revision  of  a  gen- 
eral plan  but  also  a  study  of  the  administrative  and  legal  procedure  pro- 
vided for  the  carrying  out  of  such  plan  with  a  view  to  the  recommendation 
of  improvements  therein.  Such  steps  as  are  practicable  should  be  taken 
to  simplify  procedure  and  render  more  certain  and  economical  the  City's 
control  over  the  laying  out  of  its  streets  and  park  system.  The  Com- 
mittee has  already  taken  up  some  pliases  of  this  problem. 

On  the  recommendation  of  the  Heights  of  Buildings  Commission, 
appointed  in  1913  by  a  committee  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Appor- 
tionment, the  Legislature  of  1914,  by  an  amendment  to  the  Charter,  au- 
thorized the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  to  divide  the  City 
into  districts  and  to  regulate  the  height  of  buildings,  the  area  of  courts 
and  open  spaces  and  the  location  of  trades  and  industries  in  each  such 
district.  The  amendment  provides  that  before  establishing  such  districts 
the  Board  shall  appoint  a  commission  to  recommend  the  boundaries  of 
districts  and  appropriate  regulations  to  be  enforced  therein. 

The  report  of  the  Heights  of  Buildings  Commission  having  been  re- 
ferred to  this  Committee,  the  Committee,  on  May  8,  1914,  adopted  .a  re- 
port recommending  to  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  the 
appointment  of  a  Commission  on  Building  Districts  and  Restrictions. 
The  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  City  Plan  states  that  any  complete 
system  of  building  control  necessitates  the  application  of  different  regu- 
lations to  different  parts  of  the  City,  and  that  the  City  should  be  divided 
into  districts  and  the  restrictions  for  each  district  worked  out  in  reference 
to  the  peculiar  needs  and  requirements  of  that  particular  district.  The 
Committee  expresses  the  belief  that  "  through  the  consummation  of  this 
plan  the  City  will  be  enabled  to  take  a  step  that  will  place  it  in  the  fore- 
most rank  of  the  cities  that  are  taking  thought  for  the  future,  and  are 
directing  the  building  of  the  City  in  accord  with  a  well  considered  plan." 

In  providing  for  the  appointment  of  a  Commission  on  Building  Dis- 
tricts and  Restrictions,  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  di- 
rected that  the  Committee  on  the  City  Plan  should  co-operate  actively 
in  its  work  and  tliat  the  Secretary  of  the  Committee  on  the  City  Plan 
should  serve  also  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Commission  on  Building  Dis- 
tricts and  Restrictions.  The  membership  of  the  Commission  on  Building 
Districts  and  Restrictions  is  as  follows :  Edward  M.  Bassett,  Chairman ; 
Lawson  Purdy,  Vice-Chairman ;  Edward  C.  Blum,  James  E.  Clonin,  Otto 
M.  Eidlitz,  Burt  L.  Fenner,  Edward  R.  Hardy,  Richard  W.  Lawrence, 


ADVISORY    C:OM  MISSIONS 


11 


Alrick  11.  Man.  Altr.il  K.  Mivrling,  Gforgc  T.  Mortimer,  J.  F.  Smith, 
Walter  StabKr.  Franklin  S.  Tomlin,  George  C.  Wliii)ple,  William  G. 
Willcox. 

Tile  Committee  on  tiie  City  Flan,  under  the  authority  granted  it  by 
the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  has  also  appointed  an  Advi- 
sory Commission  on  City  Plan  composed  of  24^  citizens.  This  Advisory 
Commission  is  designed  to  report  on  such  matters  as  may  be  specifically 
referred  to  it  by  tiie  Committee  on  the  City  Plan  and  also  to  help  in  the 
develoimunt  of  a  general  plan  for  the  entire  city.  The  membership  of 
the  Commission  is  as  follows:  Charles  D.  Norton,  Chairman;  Frederic  B. 
Pratt,  \ice-Chairman;  Edward  M.  Bassett,  Edward  W.  Brown,  Arnold 
W.  Brunner,  Irving  T.  Bush,  John  M.  Demarest,  Michael  Furst,  Herbert 
F.  Gunnison,  J.  Monroe  Hewlett,  Robert  W.  Higbie,  Richard  M.  Hurd, 
Robert  D.  Kohn,  C.  Grant  LaFarge,  E.  E.  Loomis,  Milo  R.  Maltbie,  Cyrus 
C.  Miller,  Joim  J.  Murphy,  E.  H.  Outerbridge,  William  Barclay  Parsons, 
William  Allaire  Shortt,  F.  DeHass  Simonson,  Daniel  L.  Turner,  Frank  B. 
Williams. 

These  two  advisory  commissions  are  made  up  of  leading  professional 
and  business  men  of  the  City,  each  one  of  whom  has  been  appointed  be- 
cause of  special  or  expert  knowledge  in  relation  to  some  branch  of  the 
general  subject  of  city  planning.  All  the  members  serve  without  pay. 
The  staff  of  the  Committee  on  the  City  Plan  serves  also  as  the  staff  of  the 
two  advisory  commissions.  Thus  duplication  of  work  is  avoided  and  the 
entire  work  of  developing  a  city  plan  co-ordinated.  The  Secretary  and 
the  Consultant  of  the  Committee  on  the  City  Plan  serve  in  a  similar 
capacity  on  the  two  advisory  commissions.  Mr.  Nelson  P.  Lewis,  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  and  the  consult- 
ing engineers  and  the  engineers  in  charge  of  the  topographical  bureaus 
of  the  various  boroughs  meet  with  the  Committee  and  form  a  technical 
consulting  staff. 

During  the  year  -iO  matters  have  been  referred  by  the  Board  to  this 
Committee.  Not  all  matters  that  would  normally  be  considered  by  a  cen- 
tral city  planning  authority  at  present  come  before  the  Committee  on  the 
City  Plan.  This  is  probably  fortunate  for  the  time  being  and  until  the 
Committee  has  developed  a  general  plan.  Until  the  Connnittee  has  accu- 
mulated the  necessary  fundamental  data  and  has  in  mind  a  general  plan 
of  city  development,  it  is  not  always  in  position  to  make  a  unique  and 
distinctive  contribution  to  the  solution  of  specific  problems.  On  the  other 
hand  when  it  has  the  data  and  has  the  elements  of  a  general  plan,  it  will  be 
natural  and  appropriate  that  the  Committee's  correlating  influence  should 
extend  to  all  those  matters  that  directly  affect  the  general  j)lan. 

The  Committee's  chief  work  for  the  next  few  years  will  b<!  that  of 
laying  the  foundations  for  rational  city  planning.  This  foundation  work 
will  be  slow  and  the  results  not  readily  apparent.     We  believe,  however. 


12  COMMITTEE  ON   THE   CITY  PLAN 

that  it  is  absolutely  essential.  Attainment  of  immediate  results  will  be 
made  subordinate  to  thorough  preparation.  We  projjose  to  make  iiaste 
slowly. 

City  planning  does  not  mean  the  invention  of  new  schemes  of  public 
expenditure.  It  means  rather  getting  the  most  out  of  the  exjienditures 
that  are  bound  to  be  made  and  the  saving  of  future  expense  for  replanning 
and  reconstruction.  With  or  without  a  comprehensive  city  plan,  the  City 
will  probably  spend  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  on  public  improve- 
ments during  the  next  thirty  years.  In  addition,  during  this  same  period, 
property  owners  will  spend  some  billions  of  dollars  in  the  improvement  of 
their  holdings.  To  lay  down  the  general  lines  of  city  development  so  that 
these  expenditures  when  made  will  in  the  greatest  possible  measure  con- 
tribute to  the  solid  and  permanent  upbuilding  of  a  great  and  ever  greater 
city — strong  commercially,  industrially  and  in  the  comfort  and  health 
of  its  people — furnishes  the  opportunity  and  the  inspiration  for  city 
planning. 

We  are  not  unmindful  of  tiie  fact  that  mucli  good  work  in  planning 
for  the  needs  of  the  City  has  been  done  in  the  past  and  is  now  being  done 
by  various  official  and  unofficial  agencies.  It  was  appropriate,  therefore, 
that  the  first  meeting  of  the  Advisory  Commission  on  City  Plan  sub- 
sequent to  its  organization,  should  be  devoted  to  a  comprehensive  state- 
ment of  the  historical  development  and  present  status  of  city  planning 
in  New  York  City.  Various  phases  of  this  general  topic  were  presented 
by  members  of  the  Advisory  Commission  and  by  the  consulting  staff  of 
this  Committee.  The  papers  submitted  at  this  meeting,  whicli  present, 
incidentally,  a  comprehensive  review  of  the  existing  situation  and  of  the 
opportunities  that  lie  before  the  Committee,  are  appended  to  this  report. 

Resi^ectfully  submitted, 

COMiAIITTEE  OX  THE  CITY  TLAX, 

George  ]\IcAnkny, 

President  Board  of  Aldermen,  Chairman 
Marcus  M.  Marks, 

President  Borougli   of  Manhattan 
Lewis  H.  Pounds 

President  Borough  of  Broohli/n 
Douglas  Mathewson, 

President  Borough  of  The  Bronx 
Maurice  E.  Connolly, 

President  Borough  of  Queens 
Charles  J.  McCorjiack, 

President  Borough  of  Richmond 

Robert  H.  Wiiitten, 

Secretari). 


Cmaptku  II 

Work  of  Earlier  1  Manning  Commissions 

ROBERT  II.  WRITTEN 

Mucli  good  work  in  planning  for  the  needs  of  tlie  City  luvs  been  done 
at  various  times  in  the  past.  That  our  street  system  is  not  of  the  crazy 
quilt  design  that  some  cities  have  as  tiie  result  of  the  unrestrained  license 
of  private  developers,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  street  system  has  for  the 
most  i)art  been  planned  in  advance  by  special  commissions,  and  since  1902 
by  tiie  permanent  borough  topographic  bureaus.  The  City  has  from 
time  to  time  planned  a  comprehensive  system  of  water  supply.  Harbor 
development  has  received  much  attention.  Parks  and  boulevards  have  at 
times  been  jirovidcd.  The  dual  subway  system  is  a  distinct  achievement 
in  city  ])lanning. 

In  1807  the  Common  Council  of  tlie  City  took  the  initiative  in  secur- 
ing the  appointment  by  the  Legislature  of  a  commission  with  absolute 
power  to  lav  out  tiie  undeveloped  area  of  the  Island  of  Manhattan.  The 
Council  considered  its  own  powers  inadequate  to  secure  the  adoption  of 
a  com])rehensive  and  permanent  plan.  The  Council's  memorial  to  the 
Legislature  states  that  "  the  diversity  of  sentiments  and  opinions  which 
lias  liitherto  existed,  and  will  probably  always  exist,  among  the  members 
of  the  Common  Council,  the  incessant  remonstrances  of  proprietors 
against  ])lans,  however  well  devised  or  beneficial,  wherein  their  individual 
interests  do  not  concur,  with  the  impossibility  of  completing  those  plans 
thus  approved,  but  by  a  tedious  and  expensive  course  of  law,  are  obstacles 
of  a  serious  and  very  perplexing  nature."  The  Council  accordingly  asked 
the  I,egislaturc  to  appoint  a  commission  to  lay  out  the  undeveloped  area 
"  in  such  a  manner  as  to  unite  regularity  and  order  with  the  public  con- 
venience and  benefit,  and  in  particular  to  promote  the  health  of  the  city." 
Accordingly  the  Legislature  passed  an  act  appointing  a  commission  of 
three,  vested  with  exclusive  power  to  lay  out  streets,  roads  and  public 
squares  for  the  entire  areji  north  and  east  of  Gansevoort  Street,  Green- 
wich Avenue,  Waverly  Place,  Astor  Place,  the  Bowery  and  East  Houston 
Street.  Under  the  terms  of  the  act,  Gouverncur  Morris,  Simeon  DcWitt 
and  John  Rutherford  were  appointed  commissioners.  The  commissioners 
w^cre  allowed  a  period  of  four  years  in  which  to  complete  their  work  and 
were  to  be  compensated  at  the  rate  of  $4'. 00  per  day  for  each  day  actually 
employed.  The  plan  adopted  by  the  Commission  covered  the  entire  area 
north"to  1.5.5th  Street.  This  plan  was  filed  March  22.  1811.  and  con- 
firmed by  the  T^cgislature  the  same  year. 


!•*  WHITTEN 

The  commissioners  had  great  faith  in  the  future  growth  of  the  City. 
But  their  plans  and  estimates  of  growth,  hke  most  estimates  and  plans  for 
the  City  that  have  since  been  made,  wei-e  far  too  limited  in  scope.  The 
Commission  thought  it  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  the  population 
of  the  City  would  be  quadrupled  within  a  period  of  50  years,  increasing 
from  about  100,000  to  400,000.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  at  the  close  of  the 
50-year  period  in  1860,  the  population  of  the  City  had  grown  to  813,669, 
or  more  than  double  the  estimate  of  the  commissioners.  The  Commission 
estimated  that  by  1860  the  population  would  extend  as  far  north  as  34th 
Street.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  that  year  the  population  extended  to  be- 
yond 59th  Street.  In  1807  the  area  of  the  Island  laid  out  amounted  to 
about  1900  acres.  The  area  of  the  City  as  laid  out  by  the  commissioners 
amounted  to  about  11,400  acres  or  six  times  the  area  previously  mapped. 
The  commissioners  explained  the  reasons  that  influenced  them  in  deter- 
mining the  area  to  be  mapped,  as  follows : 

To  some  it  may  be  a  matter  of  surprise  that  the  whole  island  has  not  been  laid 
out  as  a  city,  to  others,  it  may  be  a  subject  of  merriment  that  the  commissioners 
have  provided  space  for  a  greater  population  than  is  collected  at  any  spot  on  this 
side  of  China.  They  have  in  this  respect  been  governed  by  the  shape  of  the  ground. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  considerable  numbers  may  be  collected  at  Harlem  before 
the  high  hills  to  the  southward  of  it  shall  be  built  upon  as  a  city ;  and  it  is  improb- 
able that  (for  centuries  to  come)  the  grounds  north  of  Harlem  flat  will  be  covered 
with  houses.  To  have  come  short  of  the  extent  laid  out,  might  therefore  have 
defeated  just  expectation,  and  to  have  gone  further,  might  have  furnished  materials 
to  the  pernicious  spirit  of  speculation. 

When  we  recall  that  at  the  time  there  was  not  a  railroad  or  transit 
line  in  existence,  we  cannot  but  admire  the  vision  of  the  men  who  planned 
for  a  great  city,  extending  for  about  8  miles  through  undeveloped 
territory. 

The  commissioners  state  that  in  laying  out  the  street  S3'stem,  one 
of  the  first  subjects  which  claimed  their  attention  was  "  whether  they 
should  confine  themselves  to  rectilinear  and  rectangular  streets  or  whether 
they  should  adopt  some  of  those  supposed  improvements,  by  circles,  ovals 
and  stars,  which  certainly  embellish  a  plan,  whatever  may  be  their  effects 
as  to  convenience  and  utility."  The  rectangular  system  was  decided  upon 
on  the  ground  that  a  city  is  "  composed  principally  of  the  habitations  of 
men,  and  that  strait  sided  and  right  angled  houses  are  tlie  most  cheap  to 
build,  and  the  most  convenient  to  live  in." 

In  1860  the  Legislature  passed  an  act  appointing  7  commissioners 
to  lay  out  the  unmapped  portion  of  the  Island  north  of  155th  Street, 
as  well  as  to  make  modifications  in  the  established  plan  north  of  125th 
Street  and  east  of  Amsterdam  Avenue.  The  commissioners  were  given 
extensive  powers  and  spent  $41,236  in  making  a  survey  and  map,  but 
before  they  had  time  to  report  a  street  plan  their  powers  were  transferred 
to  the  Commissioners  of  Central  Park. 


-I'l.AN  OF  BlILT-IP  SECTION  oF  XKW  VOUK  CITY.  1797 


16  WRITTEN 

Andrew  H.  Green,  Conqitrolk  r  td  the  Coiiiiiiissioners  of  Central  Park, 
seems  to  have  assumed  active  <liar<;c  of  the  sur\ey.  That  he  recognized 
the  responsibihty  of  making  a  city  plan  most  keenly  is  illustrated  by  the 
following  excerpt  from  one  of  his  communications  to  the  commissioners : 

The  laying  out  of  the  gvoiuid  for,  and  the  planning  of  a  city  is,  if  done  with  any 
degree  111'  i'()i(.'si;;li(.  :i  w.iik  (if  gri'.-il  iwsiHuisiliility.  iiivcilving  liberal  consideration  of 
questii.Ms  oi:  ilcii'ii.c.  oi  .ipiirciihlH  s.  of  cliinatc.  imliKling  temperature,  snow  and 
rainfall,  ami  incNailiim  wiiids.  nf  tin.  incahs  (.f  the  daily  supply  of  water  and  food, 
of  the  vocations  of  its  inlialiilanls,  ami  nf  sanitary  iTgulatiiins,  incluiling  modes  of 
cleansing  and  purilicai  i.m,  ni  iiil'iuiciil,  and  nf  the  means  cf  ninMuieni  and  circula- 
ticm  (if  its  populatiiiii  .md  pi  i|i.ii\  aniinaic  an(.l  inanimate  'I  lie  addiilion  (if  a  plan 
presupposes  its  e\e(ailinii  :  it  slieuld.  therefore,  be  adapted  to  our  climatic  condition, 
and  til  the  spiiit  (if  eui'  inst  iiut  inns,  and  in  making  It,  reference  should  be  had  to 
the  faeililies  for  niaintaining  and  Ueeping  in  order  the  city  It  contemplates.  The 
oxe(aiti.i]i  (if  ;iii.\  pl.iii  will  require  the  raising  of  large  sums  of  money,  and,  if  it  is 
not  well  ( (iiisideicd,  (piestidus  of  time  and  expense,  and  convenience  will  arise  that 
will  demand  its  alire,L;.ati(in.  and  the  substitution  of  another.  We  need  not  go  oft 
the  island  to  see  lamentable  results  of  the  want  of  largeness  of  ideas  In  the  attempts 
that  have  been  made  to  provide  for  the  growing  wants  of  a  great  people. 

Following  out  the  spirit  of  tlic  above  communication,  the  commis- 
sioners, in  preparing  tlieir  plan,  made  careful  studies  of  the  local  topog- 
raphy, of  probable  uses  to  which  property  would  be  devoted  and  of  prob- 
able traffic  and  uses  of  streets. 

In  1869  the  powers  of  the  Central  Park  Commission  were  enlarged 
and  extended  over  that  part  of  The  Bronx  lying  west  of  the  Bronx  River. 
They  wei-e  given  a  veto  over  practically  all  public  improvements  in  that 
district,  pending  the  completion  of  their  general  plans.  Their  duties  were 
to  include  the  laying  out  of  streets,  public  squares  and  jilaces,  and  also 
sewerage,  drainage,  water  supply  and  the  imjtrovcment  of  the  Harlem 
River,  including  bridges,  tunnels  and  means  of  transit  across  the  same. 
In  1871  tlie  powers  of  the  Central  Park  Commission  were  transferred  to 
the  Department  of  Public  Parks  and  in  addition  to  its  powers  of  city 
])lanning  there  was  added  the  duty  of  planning  for  railroads  and  similar 
modes  of  communication  and  transportation,  and  also  for  pier  and  bulk- 
head lines.  In  carrying  out  this  added  power,  a  tentative  plan  showing 
a  system  of  rapid  transit  steam  railroads  was  prepared  by  J.  R.  Croes 
and  Frederick  Law  Olmsted,  the  father  of  the  present  leading  authority 
on  city  planning  of  the  same  name.  In  commenting  ii])on  this  ]ilan.  the 
present  Frederick  Law  Olmsted  says  : 

It  is  the  earliest  plan  I  know  that  squaioly  attenqits  to  deal  with  the  bigger 
transiiortation  problems  of  a  city  from  the  puldie  iioint  of  view.  Up  to  that  time, 
and  for  a  good  many  years  after,  the  planning  of  street  railways  and  rapid  transit 
lines,  as  well  as  of  the  terminals  of  long  distance  railroads,  was  done  almost  wholly 
by  the  concerns  engaged  in  operating  these  public  services,  little  If  any  In  advance 
of  the  time  when  extensions  were  demanded  by  Increase  of  traffic  and  under  the 
handicap  of  accepting  a  layout  of  streets  designed  without  regard  to  rail  transporta- 
tion and  very  HI  adapted  to  the  purpose.     This  plan  for  upper  New  York  was  lost 


cdMMISSiONERS.pi.o,Ni[o  BY  ThtLEGIS^LATURE 


I  --■ 


Plate   II— MAP  OF  MANHATTAN   STREET  SYSTEM    LAID  OUT 
COMMISSIONERS  OF  1S07 


:aiu,ii'.ii 


iNNINi;    (OM. MISSIONS  17 


In  \it\v  ill  siil.siiiiifiil  shil'ls  uf  iiiliiiiiiislr.ilivo  .mlliorily  mid  in  compromises  witb 
lociil  iiiliicsts.  hut  is  nolle  tlu'  less  a  ;;iu:il  liuiilinaik  in  tlio  dcvelopmeut  of  town 
planning.  It  marks  ii  point  in  respect  to  planning  suburban  areas  which  has  not  yet 
licen  fairly  readied  in  this  era  of  public  service  commissions  and  popular  Interest 
!n  tlie  subject. 

Tlie  Central  Park  Commission  and  its  successor,  tiie  Department  of 
rublii-  Partes,  continued  to  exerci.sc  control  over  tlic  development  of  the 
plan  of  upper  Manhattan  and  of  The  Bronx  west  of  the  Bronx  River, 
down  to  1891.  In  1891  the  powers  of  the  Department  of  Public  Parks 
with  resjicct  to  The  Bronx  were  transferred  to  the  Commissioner  of  Street 
Improvements  of  tlie  Twenty-third  and  Twenty-fourth  Wards,  and  that 
officer  continued  to  exercise  control  until  the  adoption  of  the  Greater  New 
York  Charter  of  1898. 

During  the  period  1816  to  1874,  tlie  various  viUafrcs.  cities  and  towns 
within  the  area  now  comprised  witliin  the  Borough  of  Brooklyn,  were  laid 
out  hy  six  separate  authorities,  including  four  special  commissions  ap- 
pointed by  legislative  authority.  In  1819  a  map  was  adopted  for  the 
village  of  Brooklyn  including  an  area  of  nine-tenths  of  one  square  mile. 
Following  tlic  incorporation  of  the  City  of  Brooklyn  in  1834,  a  special 
Survey  Commission  was  appointed,  which  in  1839  filed  a  report  and  map 
covering  the  area  at  that  time  included  within  the  City  limits.  The  area 
of  tlie  City  at  that  time  was  15.4  square  miles.  The  acts  i)roviding  for 
the  incorporation  and  extension  of  the  village  of  Williamsburg  in  182'^ 
and  1835  provided  for  the  making  of  surveys  and  maps  for  all  territory 
included.  In  18.54  a  map  was  adopted  for  the  town  of  Bushwick.  The 
Town  Survey  Commission,  appointed  in  1869,  laid  out  a  street  system 
for  the  towns  of  Flatbush,  Flatlands,  New  Lots,  Gravesend  and  New 
T'trodit.  The  Commission  consisted  of  six  members,  the  supervisors  of 
tlic  five  towns,  and  the  chairman  of  the  county  board  of  supervisors.  The 
Commission  submitted  its  report  in  1874.  In  discussing  a  proper  street 
system  for  tlic  district,  the  Commission  says: 

A  study  of  the  experience  of  any  old  and  populous  city  shows  the  great  Impor- 
tance of  placing  the  streets  and  avenues  so  that  the  blocks  will  range  In  lines  parallel 
with  those  of  greatest  travel,  and  proper  care  in  this  respect  is  of  great  consequence 
to  this  portion  of  Kings  County,  which  is  certainly  destined,  in  time,  to  contain  a 
vast  population.  The  City  of  New  York  was  treated  by  .Tno.  Randall,  Jr..  C.  E.,  in 
the  general  plan  made  by  him,  as  a  commercial  city,  with  its  chief  movements  from 
river  to  river;  but  experience  has  not  contirmed  this  theory  and  the  system  of 
blocks  is  reversed  from  what  it  should  be,  for  up  and  down  town  travel.  As  the 
streets  lie  across  the  lines  of  movement,  there  is  great  inconvenience  from  the  limited 
number  of  channels,  and  from  the  continued  interruption  of  those  which  do  exist, 
at  short  intervals,  by  the  street  crossings,  and  New  York  now  has  crowded  avenues 
and  expensive  projects  for  increased  facilities  in  northerly  and  southerly  travel. 
Want  of  forethought  in  this  matter  is  a  fruitful  source  of  expense  in  street  widenings 
and  openings,  and  the  tendency  of  prominent  centres  to  connect  themselves  by 
straight  lines,  often  diagonal  to  intervening  systems  is  well  understood  In  city 
experience.     In  the  earlier  days  of  city  life,  lines  may  be  considered  radical  in  size 


to  vifw  ill  sulisciiiieiit  sliills  of  admiiiistiMtive  iiutliority  jiiul  in  compromises  with 
l(ir;il  iiiti'i-fsts.  liut  is  luiiio  tliu  less  ji  fiit'jil  liiiiiliuarlj  iu  tlio  development  of  town 
planuinfT.  It  marljs  a  point  in  respect  to  planning  suburban  areas  wlilch  has  not  yet 
been  fairly  readied  in  tliis  era  of  public  service  commissions  and  popular  Interest 
In  the  subject. 

Tlie  Central  Park  Commission  and  its  successor,  the  Department  of 
Public  Parks,  continued  to  exercise  control  over  tlie  development  of  the 
plan  of  upper  Manhattan  and  of  The  Bronx  west  of  the  Bronx  River, 
down  to  1891.  In  1891  the  powers  of  the  Department  of  Public  Parks 
with  respect  to  The  Bronx  were  transferred  to  tlic  Commissioner  of  Street 
Improvements  of  tiie  Twent^'-third  and  Twenty-fourth  Wards,  and  that 
officer  continued  to  exercise  control  until  the  adoption  of  tlic  Greater  New 
York  Charter  of  1898. 

During  the  period  1816  to  1874,  the  various  villages,  cities  and  towns 
within  the  area  now  comprised  within  the  Borough  of  Brooklyn,  were  laid 
out  by  six  separate  authorities,  including  four  special  commissions  ap- 
pointed by  legislative  authority.  In  1819  a  map  was  adopted  for  the 
village  of  Brooklyn  including  an  area  of  nine-tenths  of  one  square  mile. 
Following  the  incorporation  of  the  City  of  Brooklyn  in  1834,  a  special 
Survey  Commission  was  appointed,  which  in  1839  filed  a  report  and  map 
covering  the  area  at  that  time  included  witliin  the  City  limits.  The  area 
of  the  City  at  that  time  was  1.5.4  square  miles.  The  acts  providing  for 
the  incorporation  and  extension  of  the  village  of  Williamsburg  in  182T 
and  1835  provided  for  the  making  of  surveys  and  maps  for  all  territory 
included.  In  1854  a  map  was  adopted  for  the  town  of  Bushwick.  The 
Town  Survey  Commission,  appointed  in  1869,  laid  out  a  street  system 
for  the  towns  of  Flatbush,  Flatlands,  New  Lots,  Gravesend  and  New 
Utrecht.  The  Commission  consisted  of  six  members,  the  supervisors  of 
the  five  towns,  and  the  chairman  of  the  county  board  of  supervisors.  The 
Commission  submitted  its  report  in  1874.  In  discussing  a  proper  street 
system  for  the  district,  the  Commission  says : 

A  study  of  the  exjierience  of  any  old  and  populous  city  shows  the  groat  Impor- 
tance of  placing  the  streets  and  avenues  so  that  the  l)locks  will  range  in  lines  parallel 
with  those  of  greatest  travel,  and  proper  care  in  this  respect  is  of  great  consequence 
to  this  portion  of  Kings  County,  which  is  certainly  destined,  in  time,  to  contain  a 
vast  population.  The  City  of  New  York  was  treated  by  .Tuo.  Randall,  Jr.,  C.  E.,  in 
the  general  plan  made  by  him,  as  a  commercial  city,  with  its  chief  movements  from 
river  to  river ;  but  experience  has  not  confirmed  this  theory  and  the  system  of 
blocks  is  reversed  from  what  it  should  be,  for  up  and  down  town  travel.  As  the 
streets  lie  across  the  lines  of  movement,  there  is  great  inconvenience  from  the  limited 
number  of  channels,  and  from  the  continued  interruption  of  those  which  do  exist, 
at  short  intervals,  by  the  street  crossings,  and  New  York  now  has  crowded  avenues 
and  expensive  projects  for  increased  facilities  in  northerly  and  southerly  travel. 
Want  of  forethought  in  this  matter  is  a  fruitful  source  of  expense  in  street  widenings 
and  openings,  and  the  tendency  of  prominent  centres  to  connect  themselves  by 
straight  lines,  often  diagonal  to  intervening  systems  is  well  understood  in  city 
cxporiencp.     In  the  earlier  days  of  city  life,  lines  may  be  considered  radical  in  size 


18  wnlTTEN 

or  direction,   which   prove,   in   time,   wise   preventatives   to   legislation   and   costly 
rearrangement. 

New  York  City  has  in  the  past  tried  various  administrative  methods 
of  planning  the  layout  of  undeveloped  areas.  It  has  for  the  most  part 
made  use  of  a  special  commission  appointed  under  legislative  authority 
with  almost  absolute  power  to  prepare  a  plan  for  a  particular  large  sec- 
tion. With  the  preparation  of  the  plan  the  commission  went  out  of  ex- 
istence. The  plan  remained,  however,  and,  with  no  provision  for  its 
further  development  or  for  its  change  in  the  slightest  detail  without  a 
special  act  of  the  Legislature. 

The  work  of  the  Central  Park  Commission  and  of  its  successor,  the 
Department  of  Public  Parks,  in  planning  the  northern  part  of  Manhat- 
tan and  the  western  part  of  The  Bronx  (1886  to  1891)  was  a  distinct  step 
in  advance.  Authority  was  vested  in  a  permanent  commission  acting  in 
the  interest  of  the  entire  city.  The  commission  had  power  not  only  to 
prepare  a  plan  but  to  revise  and  supplement  that  plan  as  occasion  de- 
manded. It  was  an  imperfect  recognition  of  the  fact  that  efficient  city 
planning  requires  a  permanent  agency  with  power  to  develop,  administer, 
revise  and  supplement  plans  for  city  development. 

We  cannot  approach  the  building  of  a  city  exactly  as  the  architect 
would  the  designing  of  a  great  structure  or  even  of  one  of  those  great 
cathedrals  whose  construction  extends  over  a  century  or  more.  The  great 
difference  is  this — the  city  is  never  completed.  No  limit  can  be  set  to 
the  growth  and  expansion  of  the  city.  No  amount  of  planning  can  avoid 
the  necessity  for  a  considerable  amount  of  reconstruction  and  change. 
Regardless  of  the  requirements  of  an  increasing  population,  the  city 
structure  must  change  to  conform  to  the  changes  in  the  economic  and 
industrial  world.  The  city  is  but  an  expression  of  the  existing  economic, 
commercial,  industrial,  social  and  political  organization.  When  inven- 
tion and  discovery  are  changing  the  methods  of  work  and  of  living 
throughout  the  world,  it  is  idle  to  think  that  we  can  so  judge  the  future 
that  our  present  plans  for  the  city's  development  will  not  require  change 
and  modification.  The  "  once  for  all  "  method  of  city  planning  is  there- 
fore impractical.  We  cannot  adopt  a  plan  and  make  that  the  Procrustean 
mould  for  all  future  time.  The  plan  must  develop  and  change  with  the 
advance  of  civilization.  City  planning  to  be  effectual  must  be  sustained 
and  continuous.  It  is  never  completed.  It  requires  a  permanent  au- 
thority always  looking  ahead,  always  constructive,  always  alert  to  corre- 
late the  work  of  all  agencies  that  have  to  do  with  the  carrying  out  of 
the  city  plan  and  to  harmonize  the  problem  of  the  particular  section  and 
of  the  particular  function  with  the  requirements  of  the  city  as  an  organic 
whole. 


ClIAl'TKR  III 

DevcloiMmiit  of  the  Offidal  City  iMap  Siiur  1«'.»H  and  the  ^V(>l•k 
of  the  New  York  City  Iniprovciiiciit  Coiiiinission 

NELSOX   1'.   LEWIS 

Tlie  Greater  New  York  charter  provided  that  tlic  plan  of  the  former 
city  of  New  York,  the  plan  of  the  former  city  of  Brooklyn  and  so  much 
of  the  plan  of  the  Borough  of  Queens  as  was  included  within  the  former 
city  of  Long  Island  City,  should  be  incorporated  into  the  map  or  plan 
of  the  City  of  New  York.  It  imposed  upon  the  president  of  the  Board 
of  Public  Improvements,  and  as  amended  four  years  later,  upon  the 
president  of  each  borough,  the  duty  of  preparing  a  plan  for  all  that  por- 
tion of  the  borough  which  had  not  been  already  mapped.  This  meant 
that  the  plans  of  the  various  villages  such  as  Jamaica  and  Flushing  in 
Queens,  New  Brighton,  Stapleton,  Tottenville,  etc.,  on  Staten  Island, 
were  not  really  a  part  of  the  plan  of  the  City  of  New  York  unless  they 
should  be  incorporated  in  plans  submitted  by  presidents  of  these  boroughs 
and  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment. 

At  the  present  time  practically  all  of  the  Boroughs  of  Manliattan, 
Brooklyn  and  The  Bronx  have  been  finally  mapped ;  ;J7  per  cent  of  the 
Borough  of  Queens  lias  been  covered  by  final  and  .50  per  cent  additional 
by  tentative  maps,  and  in  the  Borough  of  Richmond  oidy  3  per  cent  has 
been  finally  and  30  per  cent  tentatively  mapped. 

Under  the  machinery  provided  by  the  Cliarter,  responsibility  for 
the  laying  out  of  street  systems  is  primarily  vested  in  the  borougli 
presidents.  The  legalization  of  all  such  plans  requires  specific  approval 
on  the  part  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  while  changes 
in  plan  also  require  the  independent  approval  of  tiie  Mayor.  To  permit 
of  carrying  out  this  work  more  than  $.5,000,000  have  been  appropriated 
since  January  1,  1902,  for  this  use  in  the  Boroughs  of  The  Bronx,  Queens 
and  Richmond,  in  which  boroughs  the  uimiapped  areas  of  substantial 
magnitude  are  located.  Under  a  special  act  of  the  Legislature  and  under 
an  authorization  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  an  ar- 
rangement was  made  between  the  Mayor  and  the  United  States  Coast  and 
Geodetic  Survey  under  which  the  entire  city  area  was  triangidated,  and 
a  precise  location  was  made  of  jirominent  points  conveniently  located, 
these  being  intended  to  serve  as  the  basis  for  the  work  of  the  topographical 
bureaus,  which  bureaus  form  the  working  organization  for  all  of  the 
street  planning  work  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  borough  presidents. 
This  work  was  carried  out  under  tlie  iiinncdi.itc  (lir»cHi)n  of  the  chief  en- 


20  LEWIS 

giiieer  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  between  1903  and 
1908. 

The  procedure  observed  in  mapping  new  territory  consists  of  a  pre- 
cise survey  of  the  area,  including  the  location  of  existing  highways  and 
buildings,  and  the  determination  of  surface  elevations.  When  the  infor- 
mation thus  obtained  has  been  plotted  it  is  made  to  s.erve  as  the  basis  for 
a  study  of  the  street  plan  to  be  laid  out.  After  such  a  plan  has  been 
outlined  by  the  topogi-aphical  bureau  to  the  extent  of  approximately  lo- 
cating the  streets  and  parks  deemed  requisite  for  the  needs  of  tlie  territory, 
and  the  widths  and  grades  of  the  former  have  been  determined,  it  is  sub- 
mitted by  the  borough  president,  after  first  receiving  his  approval,  to  the 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  for  consideration.  The  plan  is 
automatically  referred  to  the  chief  engineer  of  the  Board  for  a  critical 
examination,  and  when  his  report  has  been  prepared,  the  project  is  made 
tlie  subject  of  an  informal  hearing  by  the  Board  in  order  that  the  views 
aiul  criticisms  of  the  property  owners  may  be  obtained.  The  engineer's 
criticisms  are  primarily  directed  to  the  relation  of  the  streets  proposed 
to  each  other  and  to  those  which  are  actually  in  use,  to  the  building  dam- 
age which  will  be  involved  in  making  the  plan  effective,  to  the  provision 
of  arteries  for  the  connection  of  existing  and  probable  centers,  to  the  play- 
ground spaces,  to  the  relation  of  the  highways  to  the  railroads  and  water- 
ways, and  to  the  practicability  of  the  gi-ades. 

Approval  by  the  Board  is  then  usually  conditioned  upon  the  revision 
of  tlie  treatment  in  such  particulars  as  this  review  and  discussion  may 
jiave  shown  to  be  essi-ntial,  and  the  borough  president  then  proceeds  with 
the  )ir(|)aratioii  of  the  finislied  plan.  The  latter  is  generally  known  as 
the  final  map  and  differs  from  the  former  by  giving  all  block  dimensions 
and  angles,  as  well  as  grades  and  street  widths,  and  by  definitely  fixing 
the  position  of  the  street  lines,  usually  with  reference  to  a  system  of  monu- 
ments, but  in  each  instance  tied  in  with  the  triangulation  system.  The 
working  out  of  tlie  details  required  for  the  latter  plans  in  order  to  obtain 
the  required  precision  is  tedious  and  costly  and  the  advantage  of  economy 
both  in  time  and  money  in  first  securing  the  approval  of  outline  maps  of 
tentative  character,  and  at  the  same  time  of  obtaining  the  benefit  of  both 
technical  criticism  and  that  of  property  owners  before  such  details  are 
attempted,  is  too  evident  to  warrant  discussion.  It  does  not  follow,  how- 
ever, that  all  such  final  maps  are  approved  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and 
Apportionment  in  the  form  originally  presented,  as  such  adoption  is  also 
prefaced  by  another  review  on  the  part  of  the  chief  engineer  of  the  Board, 
and  by  another  public  hearing.  Occasionally  it  has  been  found  necessary 
for  the  chief  engineer  to  point  out  desirable  modifications  which  were  not 
disclosed  by  the  information  available  at  the  time  when  the  tentative  maps 
were  originally  presented,  and  more  frequently  belated  property  owners 
or  new  interests  interpose  serious  and  some  times  substantial  objection. 


Plate   III— I'OKTION   OK   FIN'Ar,    MAP.   RdROlGH    OF  QIKKN'S 


22  LEWIS 

The  procedure  observed  for  changing  the  map  after  it  has  once  been 
adopted  is  identical  witli  that  observed  in  the  original  instance,  the  re- 
view by  the  chief  engineer  being  required  by  the  Board,  and  a  public 
hearing  being  required  by  the  Charter. 

Since  January  1,  1902,  and  in  conformity  with  the  steps  jierein  out- 
lined, the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  has  adopted  final  maps 
for  the  Boroughs  of  The  Bronx,  Queens  and  Richmond  aggregating  ap- 
proximately 33,536  acres,  while  a  total  of  approximately  45,438  addi- 
tional acres  in  these  boroughs  has  been  tentatively  mapped  and  is  await- 
ing conversion  into  final  maps.  Only  about  40  per  cent  of  the  City  area 
was  mapped  on  January  1,  1898,  and  these  figures  show  that  during  the 
interval  between  that  date  and  today  the  final  and  tentative  mapping 
relates  to  an  additional  40  per  cent  of  the  total  area.  It  would,  therefore, 
apjjcar  tliat  only  about  20  per  cent  of  the  City  is  yet  lacking  a  street  plan. 

Work  of  New  Yoek  City  Improvejient  Commission 

Various  schemes  have  been  put  forward  for  modifying  the  plans  of 
those  portions  of  the  City  already  mapped,  but  none  of  them  have  had  the 
official  character  of  those  proposed  by  the  New  York  City  Improvement 
Commission,  created  by  ordinance  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  in  December, 
1903,  in  a  report  which  was  submitted  in  January,  1907.  This  report 
was  accompanied  by  a  number  of  plans,  most  of  which  were  commendable, 
but  some  of  them  were  ambitious  and  extravagant  beyond  possibility  of 
realization,  while  some  of  them  also  ignored  conditions  which  then  ex- 
isted or  improvements  then  under  way  which  would  have  rendered  their 
execution  impossible. 

No  attempt  will  be  made  to  describe  or  even  to  enumerate  all  the 
different  projects  suggested  in  this  report.  Some  of  them  have  already 
been  carried  out  or  are  under  way.  Among  these,  the  following  may  be 
noted : 

The  widening  of  the  roadway  of  Fifth  Avenue  by  setting  back  the 
curb  and  the  removal  of  encroachments  beyond  the  building  line.  Not 
only  has  Fifth  Avenue  been  treated  in  this  way,  but  a  great  number  of 
other  streets  in  the  Borough  of  Manhattan. 

The  southerly  extension  of  Seventh  Avenue  and  the  widening  of 
Varick  Street  in  order  to  furnish  a  much  needed  continuous  thoroughfare 
on  the  west  side  of  Manhattan:  This  project  was  under  consideration  by 
the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  before  the  commission  sub- 
mitted its  report,  and  a  special  report  had  been  made  by  the  chief  engineer 
of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  dealing  not  only  with  the 
Seventh  Avenue  and  Varick  Street  improvement,  but  with  a  number  of 
other  changes  relating  to  this  part  of  Manhattan. 

The  extension  of  Grand  Street  and  the  widening  of  Roebling  Street 


I 

I 


ill  tliu  IJorouM-l,  „f  Hiooklyn:  Tliese  improvements  have  been  entirely 
Ciinicci  out  ami  luul  bcun  iiicoii)()i!ited  in  tlie  plan  of  tlie  City  before  the 
commission  made  its  report.  Their  purpose  was  to  furnish  a  system  of 
adwiuate  approaclies  to  the  Brooklyn  end  of  tlie  Williamsburg  Bridge. 

The  widening  of  Thompson  Avenue  in  the  Borough  of  Queens :  This 
improvoment  is  now  under  way  on  a  more  compreiiensive  scale  than  was 
suggested  in  tiie  report  of  tiie  commission.  The  street  is  two  hundred 
feet  in  width  instead  of  one  hundred  sixty  feet  as  suggested  in  the  reijort, 
and  extends  all  the  way  to  Jamaica. 

The  creation  of  a  civic  center  in  the  Borough  of  Manhattan  :  Wiiile 
the  commission  made  no  very  specific  recommendation  on  this  subject,  the 
selection  of  a  site  for  the  new  court  house  of  sucii  projjortions  as  to  permit 
the  grouping  about  it  of  other  buildings  and  connecting  it  with  the  City 
Hall  Park,  is  ])robably  a  more  ambitious  project  than  tiic  commission  had 
in  mind. 

Certain  otlur  i)rojects  suggested  by  the  commission  have  been  at 
various  times  discussed  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  and 
some  of  tiiem  have  gone  as  far  as  the  preparation  and  consideration  of 
specific  plans,  but  no  action  has  been  taken.  Among  these  are  the  fol- 
lowing: 

The  separation  of  grades  at  Fifth  Avenue  and  Forty-second  Street: 
Plans  were  made  for  carrying  the  surface  railway  tracks  and  the  heavy 
traffic  on  Forty-second  Street  under  Fifth  Avenue  in  a  subway.  Public 
hearings  were  given,  but  there  was  so  much  opposition  on  the  part  of  the 
M-operty  owners  in  tiie  immediate  vicinity  that  the  project  was  abandoned. 
Approach  to  the  Queensboro  Bridge:  The  commission  favored  the 
acquisition  of  tlie  block  between  Fifty-ninth  and  Sixtieth  Streets  all  the 
way  from  Fifth  Avenue  to  Second  Avenue,  but  expressed  the  belief  that 
this  would  be  too  costly  and  advised  the  widening  of  Sixtieth  Street  by 
taking  half  the  block  to  the  south  and  the  construction  of  a  diagonal 
connection  between  Fifty-seventh  Street  and  tiie  end  of  the  bridge.  The 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  lias  actually  laid  out  on  the  city 
plan  the  entire  block  between  Fifty-ninth  and  Sixtieth  Streets  and  between 
Second  and  Tliird  Avenues  as  an  open  space  and  has  provided  for  the 
widening  of  Second  Avenue  for  several  blocks  eitiier  side  of  the  bridge, 
but  no  action  has  been  taken  toward  the  acquisition  of  the  property, 
pending  a  final  determination  as  to  tiie  arrangement  of  tracks  on  the 
Queensboro  Bridge  and  tiie  connections  between  these  tracks  and  existing 
and  proposed  transit  lines. 

The  southerly  extension  of  Irving  Place  from  Fourteenth  Street  to 
Fourth  Avenue:  Tiiis  was  also  considered  by  tlie  Board  of  Estimate  and 
Apportionment  and  the  extension  was  laid  out  upon  the  city  map  in  order 
to  provide  a  route  for  what  was  called  the  Tri-Borongh  Subway.  When 
the  transit  plans  were  changed,  this  extension  was  abandoned. 


WOKK    Ol-    Xi;\V    YORK    lllY    nil' K()\  l.M  KNT    CO  M  .M  ISSIOK  23 

in  tlie  Boroiigli  of  Brooklyn:  These  improvements  have  been  entirely 
carried  out  and  had  been  incorporated  in  tlie  plan  of  tlie  City  before  the 
commission  made  its  report.  Tiicir  ]mrposc  was  to  furnisli  a  system  of 
adequate  approaches  to  the  Brooklyn  end  of  the  Williamsburg  Bridge. 

The  widening  of  Thompson  Avenue  in  tiie  Borough  of  Queens :  This 
improvement  is  now  under  way  on  a  more  comprehensive  scale  than  was 
suggested  in  the  report  of  the  commission.  The  street  is  two  hundred 
feet  in  width  instead  of  one  hundred  sixty  feet  as  suggested  in  the  report, 
anil  extends  all  the  way  to  Jamaica. 

The  creation  of  a  civic  center  in  the  Borough  of  Manhattan :  While 
the  commission  made  no  very  specific  recommendation  on  this  subject,  the 
selection  of  a  site  for  the  new  court  house  of  such  proportions  as  to  permit 
the  grouping  about  it  of  other  buildings  and  connecting  it  with  the  City 
Hall  Park,  is  ])robably  a  more  ambitious  project  than  the  commission  had 
in  mind. 

Certain  other  projects  suggested  by  the  commission  have  been  at 
various  times  discussed  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  and 
some  of  them  have  gone  as  far  as  the  preparation  and  consideration  of 
specific  plans,  but  no  action  has  been  taken.  Among  these  are  the  fol- 
lowing: 

The  separation  of  grades  at  Fifth  Avenue  and  Forty-second  Street : 
Plans  were  made  for  carrying  the  surface  railway  tracks  and  the  heavy 
traffic  on  Forty-second  Street  under  Fifth  Avenue  in  a  subway.  Public 
hearings  were  given,  but  there  was  so  much  opposition  on  the  part  of  the 
property  owners  in  the  immediate  vicinity  that  the  project  was  abandoned. 

Approach  to  the  Queensboro  Bridge:  The  commission  favored  the 
acquisition  of  the  block  between  Fifty-ninth  and  Sixtieth  ^5treets  all  the 
way  from  Fifth  Avenue  to  Second  Avenue,  but  expressed  the  belief  that 
this  would  be  too  costly  and  advised  the  widening  of  Sixtieth  Street  by 
taking  half  the  block  to  the  south  and  the  construction  of  a  diagonal 
connection  between  Fifty-seventh  Street  and  the  end  of  the  bridge.  The 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  has  actually  laid  out  on  the  city 
plan  the  entire  block  between  Fifty-ninth  and  Sixtieth  Streets  and  between 
Second  and  Third  Avenues  as  an  open  space  and  has  provided  for  the 
widening  of  Second  Avenue  for  severjil  blocks  either  side  of  the  bridge, 
but  no  action  has  been  taken  toward  the  acquisition  of  the  property, 
pending  a  final  determination  as  to  the  arrangement  of  tracks  on  the 
Queensboro  Bridge  and  the  connections  between  tliese  tracks  and  existing 
and  proposed  transit  lines. 

The  southerly  extension  of  Irving  Place  from  Fourteenth  Street  to 
Fourth  Avenue:  This  was  also  considered  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and 
Apportionment  and  the  extension  was  laid  out  upon  the  city  map  in  order 
to  provide  a  route  for  what  was  called  the  Tri-Borough  Subway.  When 
the  transit  plans  were  changed,  this  extension  was  abandoned. 


24  LEWIS 

The  extension  of  the  Shore  Road  ai-ound  Fort  Hamilton  to  connect 
with  Dyker  Beach  Park  in  the  Borough  of  Brooklyn:  This  project  ap- 
pears likely  to  be  realized  through  negotiations  with  the  War  Department 
permitting  the  re-estabhshment  of  a  road  which  was  closed  at  the  time  of 
the  Spanish  War. 

The  extension  of  Flatbush  Avenue  southwardly  across  Jamaica  Bay 
to  Barren  Island :  This  street  has  been  laid  out  and  it  is  likely  that  it  will 
be  acquired  in  the  near  future. 

The  laying  out  of  Bedford  Avenue  from  the  deflection  at  Heyward 
Street  to  the  Williamsburg  Bridge  Plaza:  This  street  was  laid  out  on 
the  city  plan  and  proceedings  to  acquire  title  to  it  were  authorized.  Its 
strategic  importance  was  at  once  recognized  and  a  rapid  transit  line  was 
planned  to  follow  it.  Owing,  however,  to  the  insistent  objections  of  some 
of  the  property  owners  in  the  territory  which  would  be  traversed  by  the 
street,  on  the  ground  that  it  would  change  the  entire  character  of  the 
neighborhood,  the  project  was  abandoned.  It  should  be  noted,  however, 
that  the  change  in  the  character  of  the  neighborhood,  so  much  dreaded, 
has  taken  place  and  many  of  those  who  opposed  the  extension  have  al- 
ready found  homes  elsewhere. 

Park  system  for  the  Borouglis  of  Brooklyn  and  Queens  :  A  compre- 
hensive plan  for  such  a  system  of  parks  was  submitted  by  the  commission, 
and  in  the  subsequent  development  of  the  plan  of  the  Borough  of  Queens, 
some  of  the  parks  proposed  have  been  laid  out  upon  the  city  map,  but 
they  have  not  yet  been  acquired.  The  inadequacy  of  the  park  systems  of 
some  of  the  boroughs  is  clearly  indicated  by  the  fact  that  park  reserva- 
tions which  have  been  laid  out  represent  the  following  percentages  of 
the  total  area  of  the  several  boroughs:  Manhattan  10.39!'5  Brooklyn 
2.7%,  The  Bronx  l5'/c.  Queens  1.4%,  Richmond  O.S^c. 

A  parkway  from  a  point  north  of  Jamaica  near  Hillside  Avenue  to 
a  point  near  Douglaston  to  connect  with  a  park  proposed  near  Little  Neck 
Bay:  Such  a  boulevard  has  been  laid  out  on  the  tentative  plans  of  the 
Borough  of  Queens,  connecting  with  Queens  Boulevard  at  Union  Turn- 
pike and  following  approximately  the  crest  of  the  ridge  to  the  easterly 
boundary  of  the  City.  The  park  referred  to  has  also  been  shown  upon  tliis 
tentative  plan. 

While  the  plans  first  submitted  for  this  part  of  the  Borough  of 
Queens  ignored  the  existence  of  a  wide  strip  of  city  owned  land,  in  which 
is  located  the  Brooklyn  aqueduct,  these  plans  have  been  modified  by  recog- 
nizing these  conduit  lands  and  making  them  the  controlling  feature  of 
the  plan  for  the  territory  traversed  by  them.  This  strip  varies  in  width 
from  two  hundred  feet  to  more  than  five  hundred  feet  in  some  places,  and 
it  is  possible  to  create  along  it  not  only  a  great  boulevard  but  a  series 
of  small  parks. 

The  grouping  of  public  buildings  in  tlic  Borougli  of  Brooklyn:    The 


YOUK    fllV 


coininissioii  siiggcstcil  tlie  plaza  at  lli.  main  .utiancc  to  Prospect  Park 
as  an  adniirabk'  location  for  a  Brooklyn  civic  center.  Present  plans  con- 
template, however,  retaining  this  center  at  the  Horough  Hall,  anil  the 
location  in  this  vicinity  of  a  notable  group  of  buildings,  including  a  new 
municipal  building  and  Ji  court  house,  which  with  a  reconstructed  terminal 
for  the  Brooklyn  Bridge,  woukl  create  a  center  which,  while  of  entirely 
unconventional  shai)e,  would  probably  be  very  satisfactory.  The  plaza 
at  the  main  entrance  to  Prospect  Park  would  have  furnished  an  admirable 
site  for  the  grouping  of  the  pubhc  buildings  of  Brooklyn,  but  it  is  so  far 
removed  from  the  administrative  center  of  the  borough  it  would  probably 
be  better  to  adopt  it  as  the  location  of  a  group  of  educational  buildings. 
The  Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts  and  Sciences  is  already  there,  and  the 
Mount  Prospect  reservoir,  which  will  probably  not  be  needed  when  the 
Catskill  water  supply  is  introduced  into  the  City,  if  lowered  a  few  feet 
would  have  furnished  an  admirable  site  for  a  public  building.  The  loca- 
tion of  the  Brooklyn  Public  I,ibrary  on  the  triangular  space  in  front  of 
the  reservoir  between  Flatbush  Avenue  and  Eastern  Parkway,  a  site  the 
selection  of  which  was  strongly  opposed  by  many,  seems  to  have  effectu- 
ally prevented  any  such  use  of  the  reservoir  site. 

There  were  many  other  projects  suggested  and  the  above  conunents 
relate  only  to  those  which  have  received  more  or  less  consideration  by  the 
municipal  authorities.  The  report  of  the  commission  was  referred  to  the 
chief  engineer  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  for  analysis 
and  for  an  estimate  of  the  probable  cost  of  carrying  out  those  improve- 
ments which  appeared  to  be  most  practicable.  Such  report  was  made 
under  date  of  September  26,  1907,  and  included  an  estimate  of  the  prob- 
able cost  of  carrying  out  of  the  projects  which  appeared  most  meritorious, 
this  estimate  being  based  upon  the  assessed  value  of  the  property  which 
would  be  required  with  a  certain  addition  which  was  believed  to  represent 
the  probable  difference  between  the  actual  cost  of  acquisition  and  such 
assessed  value.  The  plans  for  the  Boroughs  of  Queens  and  Richmond  were 
so  little  developed  at  the  time  that  it  was  impossible  to  present  estimates 
for  any  of  the  projects  suggested  for  these  boroughs.  The  total  estimates 
of  the  probable  cost  of  acquiring  the  necessary  land  in  the  other  three 
boroughs  were  as  follows:  Manhattan  projects  $4.8,628,000:  Brooklyn 
projects  $2.5,490.000 ;  The  Bronx  projects  .$.5,390,000 ;  total  $79,508,000. 
The  above  total  did  not  include  the  estimated  cost  of  the  Seventh  Avenue 
extension  and  the  widening  of  Varick  Street  now  under  way. 

When  this  commission  was  first  organized,  the  chief  engineer  of  the 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  who  was  an  advisory  member  of 
the  commission  and  acted  as  its  secretary,  strongly  urged  that  the  coin- 
mission  first  take  up  projects  relating  to  portions  of  the  City  which  were 
still  undeveloped  or  where  there  were  no  improvements  of  great  value, 
in  order  that  the  obvious  mistakes  made  in  the  older  parts  of  the  City 


26  LEWIS 

might  be  avoided  and  a  plan  for  future  development  worked  out  which 
would  not  involve  enormous  expense  for  the  acquisition  of  improved  j^rop- 
erty  and  for  consequential  damages.  As  has  been  indicated,  however, 
the  projects  put  forward  by  the  commission  were  confined  in  great 
measure  to  the  built-up  portions  of  the  City  and  the  cost  of  acquiring  the 
land  needed  for  them  was  so  great  that  few  of  them  were  ever  undertaken. 
One  notable  exception  to  these  was  the  admirable  recommendation  of  the 
commission  for  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  parks  in  the  Boroughs 
of  Brooklyn  and  Queens,  and  it  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  nothing  was 
done  to  carry  out  this  suggestion. 

System  of  Main  Thoroughfares 

In  the  development  of  a  plan  for  the  newer  portions  of  the  City,  a 
policy  has  always  been  followed  which  appears  fundamentally  wrong. 
This  is  that  complete  plans  for  an  entire  street  system  have  been  made 
for  one  section  after  another,  each  being  almost  always  immediately 
contiguous  to  a  section  already  planned,  not  only  the  important  arteries 
but  also  minor  streets  in  the  new  section  being  articulated  with  those  of 
the  older  section,  while  the  new  layout  has  frequently  absolutely  disre- 
garded existing  developments.  The  manner  in  which  the  plan  for  an  un- 
developed territory  should  be  built  up  was  briefly  outlined  in  a  paper 
presented  by  the  writer  at  the  International  Road  Congress  of  1913  in  the 
following  words : 

A  city  does  not,  oi-  should  not,  grow  by  accretions  of  fully  developed  areas ; 
neither  should  its  street  plan  expand  by  the  addition  of  one  completely  platted  area 
after  another.  Its  growth  is  not  like  that  of  the  human  frame,  beginning  with  a 
structure  complete  in  every  detail  and  gradually  increasing  in  size.  The  skeleton 
should  be  created  first.  The  position  of  the  various  parts  of  this  skeleton  will  be 
controlled  by  the  topography  and  by  the  crude  but  suggestive  system  of  roads  which 
has  already  developed,  each  of  them  for  a  fairly  good  reason,  namely,  that  it  leads 
where  people  wish  to  go.  Others  who  come  to  these  now  unimportant  centers  will 
doubtless  wish  to  go  in  the  same  direction,  and  these  roads  will  naturally  become 
the  important  streets  of  this  new  part  of  the  city.  Additional  connections  will 
naturally  suggest  themselves,  and  the  entire  street  system  will,  if  intelligently  con- 
trolled, be  developed  in  a  rational  manner  along  the  lines  of  least  resistance,  and 
this  part  of  the  city  at  least  will  be  adapted  to  convenient  movement,  orderly  business 
and  wholesome  living. 

In  the  Borough  of  Queens  an  opportunity  was  presented  about  two 
years  ago  to  enforce  the  carrying  out  of  the  general  principles  above  out- 
lined, but  unfortunately  it  was  not  improved.  The  President  of  the  Bor- 
ough of  Queens  requested,  and  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment 
granted,  an  appropriation  of  about  $1,360,000  for  the  improvement  of  a 
number  of  existing  roads  in  the  Borough  of  Queens  whicli  were  really  the 
main  arteries  of  travel  but  which  had  not  been  laid  out  and  acquired  as 
city  streets.     In  commenting  upon  this  appropriation  and  the  manner  in 


SYSTKM    OF    MAIN 


27 


wliich  it  was  used,  tlie  chief  engineer  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Appor- 
tionment in  his  report  for  the  year  1912  made  the  following  statement: 

When  the  authorization  of  these  improvements  was  under  discussion,  your 
ongineer  pointed  out  the  great  desirability  of  lixing  the  location  and  dimensions  of 
tliese  highways  and  acquiring  title  to  them  for  their  full  width  before  carrying  out 
improvements  which  would  satisfy  all  present  needs  and  which  would  make  the 
property  owners  along  those  roads  not  only  indiflerent  but  positively  hostile  to  any 
Improvement  which  would  involve  expense  to  them.  The  recommendation  was  that 
the  desired  improvements  be  authorized  only  after  the  President  should  have  pre- 
pared and  the  Board  should  have  adopted  plans  tixiiig  the  final  location  and  width 
of  the  streets,  and  proceedings  to  acquire  title  to  them  should  have  been  instituted. 
This  was  not  done,  but  the  improvements  were  authorized  with  the  understanding 
that  such  plans  would  be  made  and  submitted  as  soon  as  practicable.  The  roads 
tiave  been  made  and  the  abutting  property  owners  have  secured  without  expense 
loads  which  will  answer  their  purposes  for  some  years  to  come.  In  no  single  instance 
has  a  plan  been  submitted  and  the  title  proceedings  authorized,  and  there  is  no 
Immediate  prospect  of  this  being  done.  An  opportunity  has  thus  been  lost  to  control 
the  future  development  of  this  great  territory  along  more  rational  lines  and  with 
streets  of  adequate  width  to  meet  future  needs. 

Attention  should  be  called  to  the  fact  that  the  plans  lately  presented 
by  the  President  of  the  Borougli  of  Queens  show  a  serious  effort  to  make 
the  old  highways  a  controlling  feature  of  the  general  plan,  although  the 
plans  as  prepared  provide  a  complete  street  system  between  these  main 
highways — streets  which  will  not  be  required  for  many  years  to  come. 
Tiie  next  step  which  will  naturally  suggest  itself  is  to  definitely  fix  the 
lines  of  these  controlling  streets  on  the  ground  and  to  acquire  title  to 
them  while  the  land  is  cheap,  in  order  that  their  permanence  in  the  plan 
of  this  part  of  the  City  may  be  assured.  Other  old  roads  in  the  Borough 
of  Queens  had  been  included  within  the  lines  of  streets  eighty  feet  and 
one  hundred  feet  wide,  but  the  acquisition  of  title  to  them  was  deferred, 
additional  buildings  were  erected  along  them  without  regard  to  the  mapped 
lines,  and  when  the  time  did  come  for  the  acquisition  of  title,  the  cost  of 
doing  so  was  so  great  on  account  of  the  damage  to  buildings,  and  the 
protest  against  the  expense  was  so  vigorous,  that  one  b^'  one  the  streets 
have  been  reduced  in  width  and  they  have  become,  instead  of  the  control- 
ling feature  of  the  plan  for  the  territory,  mere  incidents  in  a  common- 
place street  system. 

One  particular  instance  will  be  cited:  IMyrtle  Avenue,  extending  in 
a  direct  line  from  the  Brooklyn  Borough  line  to  Jamaica,  furnished  one 
of  the  few  direct  routes  between  Brooklyn  and  the  principal  center  of 
population  in  the  Borough  of  Queens.  Owing  to  the  existence  of  a  series 
of  cemeteries  and  parks,  no  other  such  direct  connection  was  possible  for 
a  half  a  mile  north  or  south  of  this  street.  In  view  of  this  fact,  it  was 
laid  out  at  a  width  of  one  hundred  feet,  but  the  acquisition  of  title  was 
deferred  until  by  reason  of  the  erection  of  a  number  of  buildings  the  cost 
of  a  widening  became  so  great  that  the  property  owners  along  the  street 


insistently  demanded  that  its  width  be  reduced  to  seventy  feet,  and  this 
was  done.  The  principal  ai-gument  advanced  in  favor  of  this  reduction 
was  that  Myrtle  Avenue  in  Brooklyn  was  only  seventy  feet  in  width  and 
it  was  illogical  to  provide  for  a  greater  width  for  its  extension  into  the 
Borough  of  Queens,  but  a  glance  at  the  map  will  show  that  in  Brooklyn 
Myrtle  Avenue  is  supplemented  by  a  great  number  of  parallel  streets, 
while  in  Queens  there  are  no  such  parallel  streets,  and  they  could  not  be 
created  owing  to  the  obstructions  already  noted. 

One  more  example :  Jamaica  Avenue,  a  very  old  highway  of  irregular 
width,  is  the  one  direct  connection  between  Brooklyn  and  Jamaica,  and 
for  this  reason  it  was  selected  as  a  route  for  a  three-track  elevated  rail- 
road, a  part  of  the  new  dual  system.  The  part  of  this  sti-eet  through 
Jamaica  was  laid  out  several  years  ago  at  a  width  of  one  hundred  feet, 
but  no  steps  were  taken  to  acquire  title  to  the  full  width.  Lately  the  citi- 
zens of  Jamaica  have  made  an  almost  unanimous  protest  against  any 
widening  of  the  street  on  account  of  the  expense,  and  this  most  important 
thoroughfare  between  Brooklyn  and  Jamaica  will  retain  its  original  width 
of  from  sixty-six  to  seventy  feet  and  will  have  a  three-track  elevated  rail- 
road occupying  its  entire  roadway. 


Chapter  IV 

\\'()i-k  of  tilt'  lirooklyn  Committee  on  City  Plan 

Fl{I':i)ERlC  B.  rUATT 

In  December,  1911,  a  group  of  Brooklyn  citizens  organized  a  com- 
mittee to  make  a  study  of  the  Borougli  with  tiie  purpose  of  devising  a  plan 
for  the  betterment  and  for  the  future  development  of  the  Borough. 

The  City  and  Borough  officials  having  to  do  with  ])lanning  ques- 
tions were  appointed  members  of  tiie  Connnittee  and  have  rendered  most 
valuable  service.  Mr.  Edward  H.  Bennett  of  Chicago  was  appointed  the 
architect  and  with  his  staff  spent  one  and  a  half  years  in  studying  the 
problem  with  the  Committee  and  its  advisors. 

The  Committee  in  its  work  accepted  as  fixed  the  rapid  transit  system 
of  elevated,  subway  and  surface  cars.  It  did  not  study  the  housing 
problem,  restriction  of  heights  of  buildings,  nor  architectural  improve- 
ments. It  realized  that  Brooklyn  would  be  largely  a  city  of  homes  with 
a  manufacturing  possibility  scarcely  less  important,  and  that  its  financial 
and  shopping  business  would  be  largely  local.  It  also  recognized  the  fact 
that  Brooklyn  and  each  of  the  boroughs  should  be  studied  and  plaiuied 
with  reference  to  the  Greater  City.  The  method  of  work  was  as  follows : 
Careful  studies  were  made: 

First — Of  tiie  changes  in  Brooklyn  during  the  past  four  decades,  especial- 
ly with  reference  to  industry,  shopping  and  housing.     These  studies 

included  density  of  population,  trend  of  growth  and  probable  future 

development. 
Second — Intensity  of  vehicular  traffic,  botli   passenger  and  business,  on 

the  most  important  streets. 
Third — Intensity  of  trolley  and  surface  car  traffic  in  the  principal  streets. 
Fourth- — Trend  of  vehicular  traffic  on  streets  naturally  used  in  reaching 

such  centres  as  Brooklyn  and  Williamsburg  Bridges,  East  Now  York, 

Long  Island  and  South  Brooklyn  terminal. 
Fifth — Natural  thoroughfares  to  Queens  and  Long  Island. 
Sixth — ^lethods  of  relief  by  new  diagonal  streets,  by  parallel  streets  and 

by  widening  existing  streets. 
Seventh — Park  and  playground  areas  and  their  location,  especially  with 

reference  to  public  schools. 
Eighth — Treatment  of  proposed   marginal   railroad   along  shore    front. 
Ninth — Educational  centre,  including  the  Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts  and 

Sciences  and  a  new  central  library  building. 
Tenth — Jamaica  Bay  Improvement. 
Eleventh — Civic  center. 


All  these  studies  were  plotted  on  maps  and  diagrams  and  a  detailed 
repoi-t  made  showing  existing  conditions  and  proposed  changes.  By 
courtesy  of  the  Brooklyn  Eagle,  copies  of  these  diagrams  have  been  pre- 
sented to  each  member  of  the  Commission  and  may  be  referred  to  in  reading 
the  following  statements.  It  will  be  noted  that  Brooklyn  takes  the  form  of 
an  iri-egular  circle  and  is  surrounded  for  three-quarters  of  its  limits  by 
the  waters  of  the  East  River,  New  York  Bay,  Atlantic  Ocean  and  Jamaica 
Bay.  It  should  also  be  noted  that  the  greater  Brooklyn  comprises  several 
old  settlements,  such  as  Flatbush,  Gravesend,  New  Utrecht,  with  their 
existing  street  lay-out,  also  that  a  large  part  of  the  Borough  lying  south 
of  the  connecting  railroad,  though  plotted,  is  as  yet  sparsely  developed. 

Looking  at  the  maps  it  becomes  clear  that  the  original  ferries  and 
later  bridges  to  Manhattan  were  the  natural  beginnings  of  the  main  thor- 
oughfares through  Brooklyn.  They  were  the  streets  most  used  for  traffic, 
for  business  and  for  shopping.  The  most  important  of  these  streets,  taken 
in  order  of  location,  are : 

Hamilton  Avenue,  leading  from  the  East  River  southerly   and   making 

with   Second   and  Third   Avenues   the   connecting   link   between    the 

large  industrial  areas  of  South  Brooklyn. 
Atlantic  Avenue,  leading  from  the  East  River  easterly  to  East  New  York. 
Fulton  Street,  leading  from  the  old  ferry  and  later  from  the  Brooklyn 

Bridge  to  East  New  York,  and  paralleling  Atlantic  Avenue  for  a  long 

distance. 
Flatbush  Avenue,  with  its  extension  to  Manhattan  Bridge,  making  the 

longest  and  strongest  line  clear  through  to  Jamaica  Bay. 
Broadway,  leading  from  the  East  River  to  East  New  York. 

These  five  streets  diverge  like  the  leaves  of  a  fan  and  form  the  funda- 
mental frame  work  of  the  Brooklyn  street  system.  At  several  important 
points  they  are  intersected  by  lateral  streets  forming  the  secondar}'  part 
of  the  system.     Such  streets  are: 

Fourth  Avenue,  running  from  the  Long  Island  dejDot  to  Fort  Hamil- 
ton, 
Fort  Hamilton  Parkway,  from  Prospect  Park  to  the  Narrows, 
Ocean  Parkway,  from  Prospect  Park  to  Conej'  Island, 
Eastern  Parkway,  from  Prospect  Park  to  East  New  York, 
Flushing  Avenue,  from  the  Brooklyn  Bridge  to  Queens, 
Myrtle  Avenue,  from  the  City  Hall  to  Jamaica, 

Bushwick  Avenue,   paralleling   Broadway    for   three-quarters    of   its 
length. 

It  will  be  noticed,  however,  that  there  is  no  equally  imjiortant  thor- 
oughfare connecting  these  diverging  streets.  A  study  revealed  the  exis- 
tence of  the  Kings  Highway,  a  country  road  still  used  for  three-quarters 


Plate  V— GENERAL  MAP  SHOWIN'G  CHANGES 
IN  STREET  SYSTEM  RECOM- 
MENDED BY  E.  H.  BENNETT. 
ARCHITECT  FOR  THE  BROOKLYN 
COMMITTEE  ON   CITY   PLAN 


II  HI  iNi\:  35111 


S    Hsn    S    §    5     2   2   5    '■   r, 


2  2  5'  _^  _ 

^  2  c  5 


5 

o 

75 


WDliK    OK    llltOOKI.VN    fOMMn'TKK    OX    CITY     PLAN  31 

of  its  original  length,  niul  .starling  nuar  the  junction  of  JJroadway,  Husli- 
wick  Avenue  and  Eastern  Parkway,  and  crossing  in  a  circumferential  way 
most  of  the  main  tlioroughfares  referred  to  above. 

For  a  sentimental  reason,  namely-,  the  preservation  of  an  old  historic 
thoroughfare,  and  for  a  practical  one  as  well,  much  stress  has  been  laid 
upon  the  necessity-  of  widening  and  developing  this  road.  Such  a  road, 
laid  out  as  a  boulevard,  would  be  a  natural  line  of  travel  to  Coney  Island 
from  Long  Island  and  Queens  as  well  as  from  Upper  New  York.  It  would 
connect  the  existing  Eastern  Parkway  with  Bay  Parkway  and  the  Shore 
Drive.  It  would  bring  a  most  desirable  variation  into  the  street  system 
of  large  area  at  present  without  park,  plaj'ground  or  boulevard  of  any 
character. 

Of  almost  t(iual  iinjjortanrc  is  the  necessity  for  a  north  and  soutli 
thoroughfare  from  Brooklyn  to  Queens.  From  the  Williamsburg  Bridge 
there  is  no  satisfactory  route  to  Long  Island  City  and  the  vehicular  traffic 
between  the  two,  especially  business  traffic,  is  enormous.  Such  a  thorough- 
fare would  greatly  relieve  lower  ^lanhattan,  for  it  would  be  easier  to  cross 
the  Quecnsboro  Bridge  and  use  such  a  road  than  to  go  through  lower 
Manhattan  and  across  the  Williamsburg  or  Manhattan  Bridge  as  at 
present.  If  such  a  thoroughfare  could  be  developed  as  part  of  a  rapid 
transit  crosstown  line  tying  together  the  elevated  roads,  the  relief  botli 
to  passengers  and  vehicles  would  be  great. 

Third  in  importance  is  the  relief  to  Broadway  by  tlic  extension  of 
Bushwick  Avenue  to  the  Williamsburg  Bridge.  Tlie  congestion  around 
the  bridge  would  be  relievefl,  Broadway  would  be  relieved,  and  a  new  de- 
velopment of  improved  buildings  would  take  place  if  the  six  or  eight  blocks 
intervening  could  be  cut  through. 

A  fourth  very  desirable  connection  is  that  between  tlie  eastern  end 
of  Bushwick  Avenue  and  the  Conduit  Koad  south  of  Forest  Park.  A 
most  satisfactory  connection  through  the  cemeteries  to  Forest  Park  has 
already  met  the  approval  of  the  city  authorities,  but  this  road  leads  to 
the  northward  and  will  be  restricted  to  pleasure  vehicles. 

Fifthly,  there  should  be  a  connection  of  the  present  shore  drives  along 
the  Bay  and  an  extension  of  them  so  that  there  may  be  a  continuous  drive- 
way from  Bay  Ridge  Parkway  at  (j(?th  Street  to  and  around  Fort  Hamil- 
ton, through  Dyker  Park,  along  Warehouse  Avenue  to  Coney  Island,  and 
thence  to  Jamaica  Bay  and  Eastern  Parkwjiy.  Brooklyn  is  most  fortu- 
nate in  its  waterfront  and  what  is  not  needed,  or  is  unsuited,  for  docks 
and  shipping  should  be  developed  for  the  use  of  the  ])ublic  in  recreation. 

In  the  sixth  place,  there  is  tlie  very  important  marginal  railroad 
planned  to  connect  the  industrial  sections  along  the  river  from  the  Navy 
Yard  to  the  Bush  Terminals  in  South  Brooklyn.  The  carrying  out  of 
this  ])roject  would  relieve  the  Heights  of  considerable  commercial  traffic 


WOIIK    Ol-    HltOOKI.VN    COMMIirKK    ON    CirV     I'l.AN  .'H 

of  its  original  lonstii,  aiul  starting  near  the  jiiiKtioii  of  JJn.adwa.v,  Hiisli- 
wick  Avenue  and  Eastern  rarkway,  and  crossing  in  a  circiiinferential  way 
most  of  tlie  main  thoroughfares  referred  to  above. 

For  a  sentimental  reason,  namely,  the  preservation  of  an  old  historic 
thoroughfare,  and  for  a  practical  one  as  well,  much  stress  has  been  laid 
upon  the  necessity  of  widening  and  developing  this  road.  Such  a  road, 
laid  out  as  a  boulevard,  would  be  a  natural  line  of  travel  to  Coney  Island 
from  I,ong  Island  and  Queens  as  well  as  from  Upper  New  York.  It  would 
connect  the  existing  Eastern  Parkway  with  Bay  Parkway  and  the  Shore 
Drive.  It  would  bring  a  most  desirable  variation  into  the  street  system 
of  large  area  at  present  without  park,  playground  or  boulevard  of  any 
character. 

Of  almost  I'ljual  iniportaiicc  is  tlic  lUH'c.ssity  tor  a  north  and  soutli 
thoroughfare  from  Brooklyn  to  Queens.  From  the  Williamsburg  Bridge 
there  is  no  satisfactory  route  to  Long  Island  City  and  the  vehicular  trMffic 
between  the  two,  especially  business  traffic,  is  enormous.  Such  a  thorough- 
fare would  greatly  relieve  lower  Manhattan,  for  it  would  be  easier  to  cross 
the  Queensboro  Bridge  anil  use  such  a  road  tlian  to  go  through  lower 
Manhattan  and  across  the  Williamsburg  or  Manhattan  Bridge  as  at 
present.  If  such  a  thoroughfare  could  be  developed  as  part  of  a  rapid 
transit  crosstown  line  tying  together  the  elevated  roads,  the  relief  both 
to  passengers  and  vehicles  would  be  great. 

Third  in  importance  is  the  relief  to  Broadway  by  tiic  extension  of 
Bushwick  Avenue  to  the  Williamsburg  Bridge.  The  congestion  around 
the  bridge  would  be  relieved,  Broadway  would  be  relieved,  and  a  new  de- 
velopment of  improved  buildings  would  take  ])Iacc  if  the  six  or  eight  blocks 
intervening  could  be  cut  through. 

A  fourth  very  desirable  connection  is  that  between  the  eastern  <iid 
of  Bushwick  Avenue  and  the  Conduit  Boad  south  of  Forest  Park.  A 
most  satisfactory  connection  througii  the  cemeteries  to  Forest  Park  has 
already  met  the  approval  of  the  city  authorities,  but  this  road  leads  to 
the  northward  and  will  be  restricted  to  pleasure  vehicles. 

Fifthly,  there  should  be  a  connection  of  the  present  shore  drives  along 
the  Bay  and  an  extension  of  them  so  that  there  may  be  a  continuous  drive- 
way from  Bay  Ridge  Parkway  at  (UJtli  Street  to  and  around  Fort  Hamil- 
ton, through  Dyker  Park,  along  Warehouse  Avenue  to  Coney  Island,  and 
thence  to  Jamaica  Bay  and  Eastern  Parkway.  Brooklyn  is  most  fortu- 
nate in  its  waterfront  and  what  is  not  needed,  or  is  unsuited,  for  docks 
and  shipping  should  be  developed  for  the  use  of  the  public  in  recreation. 

In  the  sixth  place,  there  is  tlic  \ii  v  ini|iortant  marginal  railroad 
planned  to  connect  the  industrial  st'ctions  along  the  river  from  the  Navy 
Yard  to  the  Bush  Terminals  in  South  Brooklyn.  The  carrying  out  of 
this  project  would  relieve  the  Heights  of  considerable  commercial  traffic 


32  PRATT 

;ind  would  make  possible  by  the  extension  of  2d  Avenue  to  Hamilton 
Avenue  an  additional  street  for  commercial  use. 

Seventh — It  seeni.s  jiardly  necessary  on  this  occasion  to  speak  at 
length  on  the  need  of  [)nvk  and  playground  areas  in  Brooklyn.  Based 
either  on  the  pojjulation  of  tlie  Borough  or  on  the  area,  the  space  given 
to  parks  in  Brooklyn  is  most  inadequate.  While  so  much  land  is  still 
available  at  reasonable  prices  it  seems  almost  a  crime  to  the  future  city 
not  to  make  some  provision  now. 

Eighth — I  have  left  until  last  the  question  of  our  civic  center. 
The  jjublic  buildings  of  any  of  the  boroughs  will  be  few  in  number  and 
hence  should  be  so  grouped  architecturally  as  to  count  for  most.  Their 
location  should  have  reference  to  easy  transit  for  the  citizen  and  to 
proximity  to  the  City's  official  center  in  Manhattan.  The  present  loca- 
tion of  the  Borough  Hall  in  Brooklyn  with  its  Municipal  Building  adja- 
cent and  its  nearness  to  the  Court  House  and  Hall  of  Records,  seems  to 
be  the  natural  place  for  such  a  civic  group.  It  has  the  added  advantage 
that  around  it  has  developed  the  financial  and  legal  business  of  the  Bor- 
ough with  its  office  buildings.  To  move  such  a  center  to  Flatbush 
Avenue  Extension,  as  has  been  proposed  by  some,  would  be  to  destroy 
A'alues,  to  disintegrate  the  business  sections  and  to  bring  discord  rather 
than  harmony. 

A  satisfactory  grouping  of  ])ublic  buildings  lias  been  suggested  and 
generally  approved.  It  calls  for  the  relocation  of  the  Fulton  Street  ele- 
vated railroad  from  Borough  Hall  Square  and  lower  Fulton  Street  to 
Adams  Street ;  the  widening  of  Washington  Street  from  the  bridge  to 
City  Hall,  thus  affording  a  proper  facing  to  the  Government  Post  Office ; 
the  placing  of  the  new  municipal  building  opposite  the  Post  Office  and  the 
erection  of  the  Court  House  on  the  block  of  the  present  court  buildings. 
Such  a  plan  offers  the  maximum  of  result  with  the  minimum  of  cost. 

The  above  statement  covers  the  most  important  matters  now  under 
consideration  by  the  Committee.  It  is  the  purpose  of  the  Committee  to 
study  in  turn,  in  the  order  of  their  importance,  all  the  suggestions  of  the 
architect  and  to  make  definite  recommendations  concerning  them.  To 
secure  the  largest  efficiency  a  sub-committee  has  been  appointed  for  the 
study  of  each  of  the  problems;  and  from  time  to  time,  after  a  subject  has 
been  fully  discussed  and  approved  by  the  Executive  Committee,  a  detailed 
report,  together  with  maps,  will  be  submitted  to  the  Board  of  Estimate  and 
Apportionment. 


-PARK  AN'D  PLAYOROUN'D  SYSTEM 
REc;OMMENDED  BY  E.  H.  BEN- 
NETT. ARCHITECT  FOR  THE 
BROOKLYN  COMMITTEE  ON 
CITY    PLAN 


g  ?  ^     O 


Chaptkk   V 

Development  of  Port  and  Terminal  Faeilities 

E.  P.  GOODUICH 

Duriiiu-  till'  yiars  in  which  tiic  port  ami  tunninal  problems  have  been 
irrowiiig  more  and  more  acute,  certain  j)arts  liave  correspondingly  come 
into  greater  and  greater  prominence.  Some  of  these  may  be  listed  more 
or  less  in  the  order  of  their  importance  as  follows: 

fl.  The  elimination  of  the  surface  steam  railroad  operation  of  the 
New  York  Central  on  the  west  side  of  Manhattan  Island. 

b.  The  construction  of  1000-foot  piers  to  accommodate  the  largest 
passenger  steamships  built  and  building. 

c.  The  improvement  of  facilities  of  the  various  railroads  which  now 
occupy  water  frontage  along  the  west  side  of  Manhattan  Island. 

d.  Development  of  terminal  railroad  waterfront  facilities  at  other 
])oints  in  the  Greater  City: 

1.  East  side  of  Manhattan 

2.  Brooklyn  on  New  York  Bay 

3.  Queens 

4.  The  Bronx 

5.  Richmond 

e.  "  Co-ordination  "  on  the  land  side  by  means  of  longer  or  shorter 
stretches  of  connecting  marginal  railroad. 

/.  Tlie  improvement  of  Jamaica  Bay. 

(J.  Improvement  of  the  general  Hell  Gate  district  and  of  the  Lower 
East  River. 

h.   Improvement  of  the  Harlem   River. 

i  Certain  miscellaneous  iirohl.iiis  like  that  of  filling  up  the  East 
River. 

According  to  the  City  Ciiarter.  the  Dock  De])artment  has  primary 
jurisdiction  over  each  of  these  problems.  Because  the  Board  of  Estimate 
and  Apportionment  in  combination  with  tlie  Sinking  Fund  Commission 
apportions  the  moneys  spent  in  developing  any  of  these  enterprises,  the 
former  Board  has  for  some  years  maintained  a  special  committee  among 
its  members,  cliarged  with  the  investigation  of  and  the  making  of  recom- 
mendations to  the  main  Board  concerning  all  problems  wiiicii  arise  of 
a  vital  nature.  To  a  considerable  extent  this  special  examination  of 
a  case  involves  the  specific  design  and  arrangement  of  parts,  so  that 
the  Board  of  Estimate  Committee  has   always  maintained   a   very   inti- 


Chaptek   y 

Development  of  Port  and  Terminal  Facilities 

E.  P.  GOODUICII 

During-  tlu'  vc.us  in  which  the  port  ;iiid  terminal  problems  have  been 
growing  more  iiiiil  mon-  acuti",  ci'rtiiin  |)arts  have  correspondingly  come 
into  greater  and  greater  prominence.  Some  of  these  may  be  listed  more 
or  less  in  the  order  of  their  importance  as  follows : 

a.  The  elimination  of  tlie  surface  steam  railroad  operation  of  the 
New  York  Central  on  the  west  side  of  Manhattan  Island. 

b.  The  construction  of  1000-foot  piers  to  accommodate  the  largest 
passenger  steamships  built  and  building. 

c.  The  improvement  of  facilities  of  the  various  railroads  which  now 
occu])y  water  frontage  along  the  west  side  of  Manhattan  Island. 

d.  Development  of  terminal  railroad  waterfront  facilities  at  other 
points  in  the  Greater  City: 

1.  East  side  of  Manhattan 

2.  Brooklyn  on  New  York  Bay 

3.  Queens 

4.  The  Bronx 

5.  Richmond 

c.  "  Co-ordination  "  on  the  land  side  by  means  of  longer  or  shorter 
stretclics  of  connecting  marginal  railroad. 

/.   The  imjirovcmcnt  of  Jamaica  Bay. 

g.  Improvement  of  the  general  Hell  Gate  district  and  of  the  Lower 
East  River. 

/,.   Improvement  of  the  Harlem   River. 

;.  Certain  miscellaneous  ])rol)lenis  like  that  of  filling  up  the  East 
River. 

According  to  the  City  Charter,  the  Dock  Dejiartment  has  primary 
jurisdiction  over  each  of  these  problems.  Because  the  Board  of  Estimate 
and  Apportionment  in  combination  with  the  Sinking  Fund  Commission 
apportions  the  moneys  spent  in  developing  any  of  these  enterprises,  the 
former  Board  has  for  some  years  maintained  a  special  committee  among 
its  members,  charged  with  the  investigation  of  and  the  making  of  recom- 
mendations to  the  main  Board  concerning  all  problems  which  arise  of 
a  vital  natui'e.  To  a  considerable  extent  this  special  examination  of 
a  case  involves  the  specific  design  and  arrangement  of  parts,  so  that 
the  Board  of  Estimate  Committee  has   always   maintained   a   very   inti- 


GOODEICH 


mate  connection  with  the  details  of  each  enterprise — such  intimacy  being 
greater,  the  greater  the  magnitude  of  the  undertaking.  The  Public 
Service  Commission  and  its  predecessor,  the  Rapid  Transit  Commission, 
entered  the  problem  to  a  certain  extent  because  the  law  creating  it 
gives  it  a  certain  amount  of  jurisdiction  over  all  freight  railroads  with- 
in the  zone  of  its  activities.  Various  civic  bodies  interested  in  the  welfare 
of  the  community  and  watching  sedulously  all  things  which  involve  the 
special  interest  of  its  membership  have  also  made  innumerable  investiga- 
tions of  special  phases  of  each  of  the  above  mentioned  problems.  Among 
such  citizen  bodies  may  be  mentioned  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the 
Merchants'  Association,  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Transportation,  the 
Maritime  Exchange,  the  Brooklyn  League,  the  West  Side  Taxpayers' 
Association  and  the  Municipal  Art  Society.  Expert  and  lay  commissions 
have  been  appointed  by  each  of  the  several  bodies  above  mentioned — most 
of  which  commissions  and  committees  liave  formulated  specific  recommen- 
dations in  printed  reports.  A  list  of  fifty-one  such  reports  with  reference 
solely  to  the  solution  of  the  problem  with  regard  to  conditions  on  the  west 
side  of  Manhattan  Island  is  to  be  found  in  a  report  by  Messrs.  Goodrich 
and  Nichols  addressed  in  1911  to  the  then  committee  of  the  Board  of 
Estimate  and  Apportionment  which  had  to  do  with  that  matter.  At  the 
present  time,  the  Dock  Department  is  naturally  most  active  in  formulating 
solutions  to  the  many  problems  above  mentioned.  The  Board  of  Estimate 
and  Apportionment  has  a  Committee  on  Port  and  Terminal  Facihties. 
The  Mayor  has  also  appointed  an  Advisory  Commission  on  Port  and  Ter- 
minal matters  consisting  of  citizens  who  have  made  a  study  of  the  prob- 
lem and  who  are  in  one  way  or  another  interested.  The  latest  publication 
with  regard  to  one  of  these  matters  has  been  put  out  by  the  Brooklyn 
League,  and  is  a  worthy  contribution  to  tiie  subject  of  the  Jamaica  Bay 
improvement. 

The  two  problems  which  have  received  the  most  careful  examination 
of  late  have  been : 

a.  The  elimination  of  the  surface  railroad  tracks  of  the  New  York 
Central  on  the  west  side  of  Manhattan  Island. 

b.  The  construction  of  the  South  Brooklyn  marginal  railroad. 

Reports  upon  these  enterprises  were  presented  to  the  Board  of  Esti- 
mate by  its  special  committee  late  in  the  year  1913,  but  so  much  opposi- 
tion developed  at  the  time  of  the  public  hearings  by  private  interests  in- 
volved that  neither  enterprise  has  been  consummated.  Any  detailed  de- 
scription of  the  several  proposed  solutions  of  these  various  problems  would 
take  too  long  at  this  conference.  In  the  near  future  it  is  expected  that 
tlic  Board  of  Estimate  Committee  will  be  organized  and  take  active  steps 
to  bring  to  a  focus  these  several  problems  through  a  comprehensive  study 
of  the  whole  port  and  terminal  situation.    It  is  believed  by  the  writer  that 


\II-M.\P  SHOWING    DDCKS   AND   TliRMI  NAI.S   IN    N'KW   YORK   (  ITV 


GOODRICH 


such  comprehensive  views  can  alone  give  a  background  for  the  proper 
solution  of  any  one  of  the  problems.  The  habit  heretofore  has  been  to 
solve  each  problem  without  i-eference  to  the  others.  The  order  should  be 
reversed,  and  it  is  believed  that  the  coming  year  will  see  active  steps  taken 
along  this  line. 

It  is  impossible  to  gain  a  truly  comprehensive  view  of  the  problem 
without  considering  the  whole  waterfront  surroundings  of  New  York, 
including  the  Jersey  shore  of  the  Hudson  and  the  Jersey  and  Newark 
meadows.  The  water  frontage  along  the  Hudson  River  on  the  New 
Jersey  side  and  that  on  the  Jersey  side  of  Upper  New  York  Bay  is 
almost  absolutely  in  private  hands.  Two  or  three  small  piers  belong  to 
municipalities  but  are  entirely  negligible  in  their  effect  on  general  com- 
mercial activities.  The  greater  portion  of  this  district  is  controlled  by 
one  or  another  of  the  trunk  line  railroads.  A  short  section  in  Hoboken 
is  in  the  hands  of  the  German  steamsiiip  lines.  In  the  state  of  New  Jersey 
there  exists  a  State  Harbor  Commission  which  is  making  a  study  of  the 
possibility  of  converting  some  of  this  water  frontage  to  general  public 
use  and  has  suggested  certain  improvements,  particularly  in  tlie  Upper 
Bay. 

Newark  Bay  lias  long  been  advocated  as  a  point  for  improvement 
because  of  the  large  areas  of  meadow  land  wliich  can  be  used  with  rela- 
tively small  costs  for  filling  and  drainage.  The  Bay  is  relatively  shal- 
low except  for  a  few  dredged  channels ;  but  several  federal  projects  con- 
template deepening  and  widening  them  as  fast  as  development  requires. 
The  City  of  Newark  is  expending  approximately  two  million  dollars  for 
the  acquisition  of  land  on  the  meadows  and  the  construction  of  a  so-called 
canal,  a  pier  of  good  size,  bulkheads,  filling  of  land,  creation  of  streets 
and  incidental  structures.  Newark  is  now  advertising  for  tenants ;  and 
the  future  will  determine  what  is  to  happen  with  regard  to  this  pioneer 
municipal  enterprise.  For  a  number  of  years  past,  private  companies  have 
been  filling  various  meadow  areas  and  occasionally  disposing  of  property 
for  manufacturing  purposes  at  different  points  on  the  large  acreage 
available  for  such  development.  Success  has  not  followed  all  their  en- 
deavors, several  having  been  put  in  bankruptcy  within  the  past  few  months. 
Some  very  ambitious  schemes  are  rumored  as  now  on  foot  along  the  same 
lines.  Even  as  far  south  as  the  Rahway  River  such  plans  are  being 
developed. 

The  port  and  terminal  development  is  intimately  related  to  the  rest 
of  the  city  plan.  It  would  lose  a  large  part  of  its  possible  effectiveness 
and  economic  value  unless  the  location  and  design  of  the  docks  and  ter- 
minals is  considered  in  relation  witli  tlieir  liinterland,  their  approaches, 
especially  through  the  thoroughfares  and  transit  lines  which  connect 
them  with  the  districts  which  they  are  expected  to  serve.  In  a  co-ordina- 
ted plan,  the  streets  and  thoroughfares  surrounding  and  approaching  a 


1 1.   KAni.ITII 


ruilwav  or  water  tcnniniil  must  be  designed  to  allow  trucks  to  liaiidle, 
deliver  and  take  away  goods  with  no  congestion  and  with  the  greatest  ease 
of  movement.  The  district  about  the  terminal  should  be  so  designed  in  its 
street,  lot  and  block  units  as  to  be  peculiarly  suited  to  tliat  type  of  in- 
dustrial, warehouse  and  business  use  which  will  work  in  best  with  the 
character  of  business  of  the  terminal.  The  district  next  beyond  should  be 
so  laid  out  as  to  be  best  adapted  to  use  for  houses  for  the  people  who  were 
employed  in  the  terminal  district.  Thus  the  port  and  terminal  plans  need 
to  be  considered  carefully  in  relation  to  the  rest  of  the  city  plan.  No 
city  plan  for  New  York  can  be  complete  unless  the  terminal  and  ])ort 
development  is  an  integral  part  of  it. 


Chapter  VI 

Rapid  Transit  Development 

DANIEL  L.  TURNER 

It  has  taken  over  forty-five  years  to  produce  the  ah-eady  existing 
and  prospective  rapid  transit  facihties  of  New  York.  The  struggle  began 
in  1868,  when  C.  T.  Harvey  constructed  the  first  elevated  railroad  along 
Greenwich  Street  from  the  Battery  to  Dey  Street.  (Incidentally  this  was 
also  the  first  elevated  railroad  in  the  world.) 

As  an  illustration  of  how  history  probably  has  repeated  itself  many 
times  during  all  these  years,  the  following  quotation  is  illuminating: 

New  York  is  occupied  at  present  with  its  annual  excitement  on  the  question  of 
the  means  of  travel  from  one  end  of  the  city  to  the  other.    .    .    . 

Nearly  every  man,  wiiman  and  child  In  the  city  feels  a  personal  interest  in  the 
question,  and  every  Imsii/css  man,  nnloss  possessed  with  the  patience  of  Job  or  the 
piety  of  a  saint,  sr.iwls  in  the  morning  and  is  profane  at  night  at  the  Insufhcient 
and  utterly  inade(iii.ilr  .■irr,.i]iiii.iilali<.iis  furnished  by  the  railroads. 

There  are  two  ..r  Ihr.v  rival  <-oiniiaiiit's.  with  pet  schemes  for  solving  the 
difficulty,  which  tiny  -.ivv-  .aiel'iiU^  niusiiig,  and  loudly  calling  on  the  public  to  adopt. 
.  ,  .  Of  course  ...  a  solution  n£  the  difficulty  becomes  a  problem  of  very 
great  magnitude,  and  one  in  which  the  services  of  the  ablest  men  should  be  enlisted, 
which  we  regret  to  say,  does  not  seem  at  all  probable;  but  upon  the  contrary  It  is 
now  in  the  hands  of  contending  factions  whose  deliberations  have  often  more  the 
character  of  a  political  caucus  than  of  scientific  investigation. 

Although  these  words  were  printed  forty-five  years  ago,  when  I  first 
read  them  several  years  back  they  then  epitomized  the  transit  situation 
as  well  as  they  could  have  done  at  any  previous  time.  I  then  wondered  if 
we  still  would  be  dealing  with  the  same  problem  in  the  same  old  way  another 
generation  hence.  My  misgivings  were  unwarranted — I  did  not  do  justice 
to  the  forces  which  were  at  work.  I  had  not  come  to  know  the  kind  of 
men  Wm.  R.  Willco.x  and  George  McAneny  were.  On  the  foundation  laid 
by  Abram  S.  Hewitt  and  after  him  by  Alexander  E.  Orr,  they  have  erected 
a  transit  structure  which  is  epoch-making  and  which  will  go  far  towards 
solving  our  municipal  transportation  problem.  I  refer  to  the  Dual  Sub- 
way System. 

Legislative  Processes 

In  the  time  available  it  is  impracticable  more  than  to  present  a  much 
abbreviated  resume  of  the  legislative  processes  during  the  last  forty-five 
years  or  more  which  finally  culminated  in  the  accomplishment  of  the 
Dual  System.     This   information  has  been  largely  drawn   from   a   very 


KAl'ID   TRANSIT    DKVEI.O  I'M  EXT  0» 

adininible  and  exhaustive  paper  on  tlie  subject*  by  LeRoy  T.  Harkncss, 
wlio  liad  such  a  large  part  in  the  preparation  of  tlie  Dual  Contracts. 

As  far  back  as  18-47  consideration  was  given  to  the  question  of  rapid 
transit  as  distinguisiied  from  liorse  car  and  bus  operation.  Tlien  the 
population  to  be  cared  for  in  the  area  now  coni])risiiig  tlie  Greater  City 
was  less  than  600,000— now  it  is  over  5,000.0()().  Trior  to  1875  all 
measures  looking  to  transit  relief  depended  entirely  upon  ])rivatc  cor- 
])orations.     Tlie  Legislature  made  special  grants  to  such  corporations. 

The  Ra])id  Transit  Act  of  1875  was  the  first  general  rapid  transit 
act.  ■  Also  it  was  the  first  act  permitting  initiative  by  tlie  ])ublic.  For 
tlicse  reasons  it  was  the  first  ste])  towards  the  goal  wliich  now  is  ncMrly 
attained.  The  Act's  initiative  ]U'()visions,  however,  were  insignificant. 
Although  the  ])ublic  could  come  Jis  a  snp])licant  to  a  corporsition  for  what 
it  wanted,  it  liad  no  power  to  com))el  c()m])liance  with  its  wislics.  There- 
fore, results  could  be  attained  only  through  company  co-operation,  which 
was  generally  lacking.  This  was  still  the  time  of  company  exploitation. 
The  Manhattan  and  Brooklyn  elevated  systems  were  developed  during  this 
period,  and  became  so  strongly  entrenched  that  fifteen  years  elapsed  be- 
fore any  further  progress  was  made. 

Then  followed  the  Rapid  Transit  Act  of  1891,  which  provided  for  a 
self-perpetuating  permanent  commission  empowered  to  lay  down  routes, 
make  plans  and  offer  fully  developed  perpetual  transit  franchises  for  sale 
at  public  auction.  Still  nothing  was  accomplished.  However,  the  public 
was  being  educated.  There  was  a  growing  recognition  of  the  value  of 
such  franchises  and  of  the  importance  of  public  control. 

The  Rapid  Transit  Act  of  1894  was  largely  the  achievement  of 
Abram  S.  Hewitt,  and  was  really  the  opening  of  the  way  to  the  ultimate 
solution  of  the  transit  problem.  The  effective  feature  of  this  act  was 
the  provision  for  nninicipal  construction  and  ownership.  Because  of  this 
feature  it  permitted  success  wiiere  j)revious  acts  had  failed.  In  another 
important  particular  there  was  advance.  The  franchise  was  limited.  The 
lease  terminated  in  fifty  years,  with  right  to  two  renewals  not  exceeding 
twenty-five  years  each.  The  act  authorized  the  City  to  furnish  the  money 
for  the  construction  of  the  railroad,  but  the  contractor  was  to  construct 
it,  equip  it  at  his  own  expense,  operate  it  and  pay  to  the  City,  as  a  rental, 
the  interest  on  tlic  construction  cost  and  an  additional  one  per  cent  to 
amortize  such  cost. 

Alexander  E.  Orr  was  the  Ciiairman  of  the  Rapid  Transit  Board 
created  by  this  act.  It  was  under  his  direction,  and  that  of  his  Chief 
Engineer,  Wm.   Barclay  Parsons,  that   tiie   routes   were  fixed   upon,   the 

*  Entitled  "  The  Dual  System  Contracts  in  their  Relation  to  the  Rapid  Transit 
History  of  New  York  City,"  and  published  in  the  1913  Proceedings  of  the  Miintclpal 
Ensinoers  of  Tlie  City  of  New  York.  The  paper  is  commended  for  your  carcfnl 
read  in:;. 


40  TURNER 

plans  were  prepared  and  Contract  I,  for  the  first  city-owned  subway, 
was  awarded  to  Jolin  B.  McDonald  on  February  21,  1900.  August  Bel- 
mont came  to  his  aid  financially,  and  the  work  was  proceeded  with.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  a  project  wliich  had  been  attempted  in  vain  for 
twenty-five  years. 

The  Act  only  empowered  the  Board  to  provide  transit  for  New 
York  City  as  it  existed  before  consolidation.  As  soon  as  Contract  1  was 
under  way,  the  Board  sought  authority  from  the  Legislature  to  extend  its 
functions  to  all  parts  of  Greater  New  York.  The  necessai-y  law  was 
enacted  April  23,  1900.  This  last  is  a  noteworthy  date,  because  it  was 
the  beginning  of  rapid  transit  for  the  Greater  City  as  distinguished  from 
the  sectional  development  which  had  preceded  it.  Thereupon  the  Board 
immediately  prepared  plans  and  entered  into  Contract  2  on  July  21,  1902, 
providing  for  the  extension  of  the  subway  to  Brooklyn.  The  cost  of  this 
extension  was  estimated  at  from  .$8,000,000  to  $10,000,000.  The  Rapid 
Transit  Subway  Construction  Company  bid  $2,000,000  for  construction 
and  $1,000,000  for  real  estate  and  terminals.  This  led  the  Board  to  be- 
lieve that  the  great  value  of  the  operating  rights  was  being  appreciated 
at  last,  and  therefore  that  the  solution  of  the  transit  problem  was  at  hand. 
Consequently  it  laid  out  a  comprehensive  system  of  routes  intended  to 
serve  the  whole  City  and  endeavored  to  construct  some  of  them.  But  the 
Elsberg  Bill  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  1906  again  brought  matters 
to  a  standstill. 

The  Elsberg  amendments  of  the  Rapid  Transit  Act,  although  not 
generally  recognized  as  having  done  so,  marked  another  advance  step. 
They  provided  that  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  should 
approve  transit  matters.  Heretofore  it  had  been  possible  only  to  con- 
struct transit  lines  with  City  money.  The  new  amendments  made  it  pos- 
sible also  to  equip  and  operate  with  City  money.  Contracts  for  construc- 
tion, equipment  and  operation  could  be  entered  into  separately  or  together. 
This  meant  municipal  operation  if  the  City  so  elected.  While  municipal 
operation  should  be  the  last  resort,  it  gave  the  community  still  more  power 
to  take  the  initiative.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Elsberg  amendments  limited 
the  lease  to  twenty  years,  with  one  twenty-year  renewal.  In  this  par- 
ticular the  bill  was  disastrous  to  transit  progress.  Capital  could  not  re- 
coup itself  in  this  short  time.  Although  the  shorter  lease  term  had  to 
come  ultimately,  the  time  was  not  ripe;  the  step  was  too  gi'eat  a  step  in 
advance.  As  long  as  private  capital  was  to  be  the  cliief  reliance,  it  was 
necessary  that  such  capital  be  protected.  For  the  fact  must  not  be  lost 
sight  of  that  although  City  money  was  being  used  to  build  subways,  the 
carrying  charges  were  immediately  transferred  to  the  operator,  wlio 
therefore  had  to  assume  the  cost  burden  practicall}'  to  tlic  same  extent 
as  if  he  had  fqrnished  the  money  in  the  first  instance.  Tiie  operator's  own 
contribution  to  the  project  came  in  last. 


KAI'll)   THANsrr    lll;\  l.l.Ol'.MKNT  41 

For  this  last  reason  additional  transit  facilities  were  again  blocked. 
All  further  efforts  of  the  Rapid  Transit  Board  were  in  vain.  Notwith- 
standing this,  the  accomplishments  of  tlic  Board  iiad  been  epoch-making. 
It  constructed  the  first  city-owned  subwaj-;  it  built  tlie  first  line  for  the 
Greater  City — the  extension  to  Brooklyn — as  distinguished  from  the  bor- 
ougli  developments  wliidi  had  prevailed  before;  and  it  laid  down  a  com- 
prehensive system  of  transit  lines — also  for  the  Greater  City — many  of 
whicii  ultimately  were  to  be  utilized  in  the  Dual  System.  Its  laurels  were 
secure.  It  could  afford  to  pass  its  burdens  on  to  a  worthy  successor. 
The  City  owes  an  everlasting  debt  of  gratitude  to  jMr.  Orr,  its  Chairman. 

Now  we  come  to  the  Public  Service  Commission  I>aw.  This  law 
brought  a  new  era.  The  Commission  created  by  it,  referring  to  the  First 
District  Commission  particularly,  not  only  inherited  the  results  of  all  the 
vears  of  transit  progress  which  had  preceded  it,  but  it  was  vested  with 
greatly  increased  powers.  It  was  given  sweeping  powers  of  regulation 
and  control  over  existing  public  utilities,  as  well  as  those  which  it  brought 
into  being.  It  had  constructive  powers  as  well  as  regulative  powers.  The 
Rai)id  Transit  Board  disappeared.  The  new  Commission,  with  Wm.  R. 
Willcox  as  Chairman,  immediately  took  u|)  the  transit  problem.  But  in 
spite  of  its  great  powers  innumerable  obstacles  interfered  with  ra])id 
progress.  It  was  found  necessary  to  obtain  still  more  amendments  to  the 
Rapid  Transit  Act. 

The  feature  of  the  amendments  to  the  Rapid  Transit  Act  of  1909  was 
the  terminable  form  of  contract,  or  the  short  lease  provision.  The  defect 
in  tiie  Elsberg  amendments  was  overcome  by  recognizing  that  the  con- 
tractor was  entitled  to  be  recouped  for  his  expenditures  before  the  City 
could  exercise  its  short  lease  privileges.  Tiierefore,  it  was  provided,  in 
case  the  City  should  recapture  after  a  minimum  period  of  ten  years,  that 
the  contractor's  expenditures  should  be  returned  to  him  with  fifteen  per 
cent  additional.  Now  at  last  the  City  was  in  a  position  to  build  new 
transit  lines  under  almost  any  plan  whicli  it  might  elect  to  follow,  but  it 
could  only  buikl  new  lines.  It  could  not  add  to  tlie  existing  facilities, 
which  represented  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  of  outlay,  or  co-ordinate 
such  facilities  with  such  new  lines  as  it  miglit  vuidertake  to  build.  Tlie 
inability  to  amalgamate,  in  this  manner,  tlie  old  and  new  lines  was  another 
stumbling  block.  This  was  disclosed  by  tlio  negotiations  with  the  existing 
companies  which  were  carried  on  by  tlie  Commission  and  the  Board  of 
Estimate  and  Apportionment  during  1910,  1911  and  1912.  Consequently 
in  1912  other  amendments  to  the  Rapid  Transit  Act  were  obtained.  The 
amendments  of  1909  and  1912  were  the  last  legislative  steps  necessary. 
Sliortly  thcre;ifter,  and  as  the  culmination  of  forty-five  years  of  effort, 
on  ^larch  19,  1913,  Edward  E.  ]McCall,  the  newlj'  appointed  Chairman 
of  the  Public  Service  Commission ;  Theodore  P.  Siionts,  President  of  the 
Interborough  Rapid  Transit  Company,  and  Timothy  S.  Williams,  Presi- 


42  TURNER 

dent  of  the  New  York  Municipal  Railway  Corporation,  signed  the  Dual 
System  Contracts. 

The  Dual  System 

Manhattan,  The  Bronx,  Brooklyn,  Queens  and  Richmond,  the  five 
boroughs  which  constitute  the  Greater  City,  although  separated  from 
each  other  physically,  form  a  city  approximately  included  in  a  semi-circle 
of  eighteen  miles  radius.  Each  borough  to  a  certain  degree  maintains  its 
individuality  and  within  its  own  boundary  contains  its  particulai-  social 
and  commercial  districts,  but  the  great  majority  of  the  borough  activities 
are  concentrated  in  one  area  used  by  all  of  the  boroughs  in  common.  This 
area  at  the  present  time  is  located  in  the  lower  portion  of  Manhattan  and 
comj)rises  that  part  of  the  borough  south  of  59th  Street  between  the 
Hudson  and  East  Rivers.  This  is  the  objective  point  for  most  of  the 
municipal  travelers.  Tlie  active  life  of  the  Greater  City,  spreading  out 
over  327  square  miles,  is  concentrated  here  into  an  area  of  only  about 
eight  square  miles.  In  short,  this  is  the  real  community  center  of  the 
Greater  City. 

A  comprehensive  municipal  transit  system  must  join  all  the  bor- 
oughs together  and  make  them  equally  accessible  to  the  community  center. 
These  are  the  chief  functions  of  such  a  system  from  the  city  plan  stand- 
point.    The  Dual  System  aims  to  accomplisli  tliis  ultimately. 

The  Dual  System  includes  the  existing  transit  lines  as  well  as  the 
proposed  new  lines.  At  present  Queens  and  Richmond  have  no  rapid 
transit  lines.  The  existing  Manhattan  elevated  system  below  the  Harlem 
River  was  constructed  between  1868  and  1880;  the  Bronx  portion  of  the 
INIanliattan  system,  between  1885  and  1891,  and  the  existing  Interborough 
Subway  between  1900  and  1904<.  These  systems  were  designed  to  serve 
only  Manhattan  and  The  Bronx,  which  then  constituted  New  York  City. 
Although  the  first  subway  was  not  put  into  operation  until  after  the 
Greater  City  came  into  being  on  January  1,  1898,  it  was  conceived, 
planned  and  ready  to  be  built  prior  to  consolidation,  and  therefore  was 
not  intciiiled  as  a  system  for  the  Greater  City. 

Similarly,  tlie  Brooklyn  elevated  lines,  which  were  l)iiilt  between  1885 
and  1894,  were  only  intended  to  serve  Brooklyn. 

The  Manhattan  and  Bronx  subway  and  elevated  lines  traverse  the 
residential  portions  of  the  boroughs  and  then  pass  through  the  community 
center  in  lower  iNIanhattan.  They  fui'nish  the  people  of  these  two  bor- 
oughs with  a  through  ride  for  one  fai-e  from  their  homes  to  business. 
Furthermore,  every  outlying  track  can  be  utilized  to  its  full  capacity 
into  the  community  center  for  the  benefit  of' the  section^  traversed  by  it. 
Therefore,  to  the  extent  which  their  capacities  permit,  the  services  of 
these  lines  are  ideal.    This  is  why  they  have  been  such  an  important  factor 


!         X 

^\^ 

%,^ 

/   ,-. 

^^ivA^: 

v^^^ 

\. 

/ 

A"^^ 

^^^. 

\, 

^ 

>-^<P.  s^^^^-x. 

\ 

1            /     ""         /^ 

\ 

^C\      ^\ 

\ 

> 

^.r-sf^     ^\ 

\           \ 

f^/lN 

VxC 

_\    \ 

^fi  jvy  \ 

yAS — V 

l^^^l^ 

y^(     '^>rc?  J4 

^1-^0^            t\ 

\      y^      'JjkS^^ 

^^.jv^ 

kV^ 

1 — 'z~^  ^"^^^^-^ 

z^ 

-f  1 

44  TUKNEE 

in  the  development  of  Manhattan  and  The  Bronx.  In  Brooklyn,  on  the 
other  hand,  there  are  ten  Hnes  converging  into  and  throttled  through 
two  lines  across  the  East  River  to  Manhattan,  but  even  these  latter  two 
lines  do  not  traverse  any  portion  of  the  community  center  in  lower  Man- 
hattan. Therefore,  practically  none  of  the  New  York-bound  Brooklyn 
elevated  passengers  ai-e  carried  to  their  destination.  As  long  as  Brooklyn 
was  a  separate  city  these  hnes  performed  their  proper  function,  but  as 
soon  as  it  became  a  part  of  the  Greater  City,  with  lower  Manhattan  the 
objective  point  for  the  majority  of  tlie  passengers,  then  Brooklyn  suffered 
in  consequence. 

New  York  and  Brooklyn  as  entirely  independent  cities,  like  all  other 
sister  cities,  were  intensely  antagonistic  to  each  other  and  jealous  of  each 
other's  advancement.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  as  early  as  1883 — fifteen 
years  before  consolidation — the  Brooklyn  Bridge  united  them  for  the 
purpose  of  promoting  their  common  interest,  and  also  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  majority  of  the  Brooklyn  people  preferred  to  earn  their  livelihood 
in  what  is  now  Manhattan,  every  obstacle  possible  was  interposed  to  the 
merging  of  the  two  communities.  Their  transportation  systems,  their 
most  important  medium  of  intercommunication,  were  kept  severely  apart 
and  were  permitted  to  develop  only  in  the  interest  of  the  particular  city 
which  they  served.  Although  the  geographical  configuration  of  Manliat- 
tan  had  something  to  do  with  the  matter,  the  conditions  just  described 
are  the  primary  causes  for  the  intense  population  congestion  in  Man- 
hattan. Now  that  the  obstacles  to  transportation  inter-communication 
will  soon  be  removed,  marked  changes  will  rapidly  take  place. 

Although  the  existing  systems  of  Manhattan,  The  Bronx  and  Brook- 
lyn, as  just  described,  now  only  serve  these  separated  communities,  they 
are  capable  of  articulation  with  the  now  lines  under  a  comprehensive 
ti-ansit  plan.  Failure  to  utilize  them  in  such  a  manner  would  have  been 
a  great  economic  waste.  Consequently,  upon  the  existing  lines  as  a  foun- 
dation the  new  plan  has  been  formulated.  The  Interborough  Company's 
system  will  furnish  rapid  transit  for  Brooklyn,  Manhattan,  The  Bronx 
and  Queens.  The  Brooklyn  Company's  system  will  do  the  same  thing  for 
Brooklyn,  Manhattan  and  Queens,  and  ultimately  will  also  serve  Rich- 
mond. In  this  way  a  Dual  System  serving  the  whole  City  has  been  created. 
The  enlarged  system  to  be  operated  by  each  company  will  consist  of  its 
existing  system  extended 

by  nddinir  tracks  to  ils  existing  lines, 

by  (■xtiMiiliii;;  ils  cxisiiiiL;  lines  further  out  into  new  territory,  and 

liy  (■(instructing'  new  City-built  subways  for  its  use. 
Tlie  existing  subway  and  elevated  single-track  mileage  is : 

For  the  Interborough  Company 191  miles 

For  the  Brool<lyn  Company 105      " 

Total  existing  singlo-track  mileage 296      "  296  miles 


46  TUENER 

The  additional  tracks  and  extensions  to  the  existing 
line's  increase  the  single-track  mileage 

For  the  Interborough  Company  by 21  miles 

For  the  Brooklyn  Company  by 45 

Or  by  a  total  of 66      "  UG  miles 

The  single-track  mileage  of  the  new  subway  system  is 

For  the  Interborough  Company 140  miles 

For  the  Brooklyn  Company 110      " 

Total  single-track  mileage  of  new  lines 259      "  259 

The  total  new  single-track  mileage,  including  additions,  extension 
and  new  lines,  is  therefore '^'■^^ 

Grand  total  single-track  mileage  of  old  and  new  lines  incorporated 
under  the  Dual  System 621 

Although  the  mileage  will  be  doubled,  it  does  not  follow  that  the 
capacity  and  territory  serving  qualities  of  the  Dual  System  will  increase 
in  the  same  ratio.  The  method  of  routing  a  system  has  a  most  important 
bearing  on  such  qualities.  At  present  there  is  one  four-track  trunk  sub- 
way traversing  Manhattan.  With  the  new  subways  completed,  besides 
other  subways,  there  will  be  three  such  four-track  trunk  lines,  with  col- 
lecting and  distributing  branches  in  Brooklyn,  The  Bronx  and  Queens. 
All  these  four-track  lines  through  Manhattan  have  been  designed  so  as  to 
develop  a  two-way  traffic  movement.    For  example,  now  there  is  a  total  of 

12  tracks  through  the  community  center, 
5  used  by  empty,  and 
7  by  full  trains. 
The  Dual  System  adds  a  total  of 

19  tracks  through  the  community  center, 
5  used  by  empty,  and 

14:  by  full  trains, 
thus  75%  of  the  additional  tracks  will  be  utilized  for  the  movement  of 
full  trains.  By  this  means  the  Dual  System  subway  service  alone  will  be 
nearly  five  times  as  great  as  the  present  subway  service.  This  enormous 
increase  in  subway  capacity,  together  with  the  increase  on  the  old  lines, 
produces  a  capacity  for  the  Dual  System,  old  and  new  lines  combined, 
three  times  as  great  as  on  tlie  existing  lines.  But  even  this  large  capacity 
increase  does  not  represent  the  most  striking  characteristic  of  this  great 
transportation  system.  Never  before  has  so  much  territory  been  served 
or  have  all  the  outlying  boroughs  been  made  so  equally  accessible.  From 
the  standpoint  of  the  city  plan  this  is  particularly  noteworthy.  At  the 
present  time  outside  of  Manhattan  and  The  Bronx  there  arc  only  four 
points  at  which  a  passenger  can  enter  a  rapid  transit  train  and  travel 


48  TURNER 

through  the  community  center  in  Manhattan  for  a  five-cent  fare.  These 
points  are  the  four  subway  stations  in  Brooklyn.  Manhailan  now  is  ac- 
commodated with  146  subway  and  elevated  stations.  The  Bronx  has  29. 
Their  quotas  are  increased  under  the  Dual  System  to  202  and  75  stations, 
respectively.  The  Dual  System  increases  the  number  of  such  stations  in 
Brooklyn  from  4  to  193.  Queens  is  furnished  with  41,  where  it  has  none 
now.  In  other  words,  the  Greater  City  will  be  served  by  332  more  sta- 
tions than  at  present,  or  the  total  number  of  such  stations  will  be  increased 
from  179  to  511,  or  nearly  trebled.  Simultaneously,  therefore,  the  Dual 
System  practically 

will  double  the  single-track  mileage ; 
will  treble  the  capacity,  and 

will  treble  the  territory  serving  quality  of  the  existing  rapid 
transit  facilities. 

To  complete  this  project  it  will  cost 
The  Interborough  Company 

for  coiisti-iiction  and  equipnieiit $10.5,000,000 

The  N.  Y.  M.  R.v.  Corp. 

fur  oonstruc-tion  and  ecuiipmpnt 01,000,000 

The  City 

for  construction    104,000,000 

Total $330,000,000 

The  work  is  being  planned  and  constructed  under  the  supervision  of 
Alfred  Craven,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Public  Service  Commission. 

Conclusions 

Before  looking  forward  it  is  desirable,  for  a  moment,  to  consider 
again  what  has  happened  in  the  past.  The  legislative  advances  leading 
up  to  tlie  Dual  System  may  be  recapitulated  as  follows : 

1875 — Beginning  of  community  initiative. 

1891^ — Ability  to  plan  and  sell  at  auction. 

1894 — IMuiiicipal  construction  and  ownership — limited  franchise. 

1900 — Beginning  of  Greater  City  transit  development. 

1906 — Board  of  Estimate  approval  of  transit  matters — equip- 
ment and  operation  by  City — short  lease. 

1907 — Public  Service  Commissions  Law — constructiAe  and  regu- 
lative powers. 

1909 — Terminable  contract — reimburse  company  for  its  exjjen- 
ditures  after  10-year  recaptui'c  period. 

1912 — Contract  after  inquiry  into  transit  situation — extensions 
and  additions  to  existing  facilities  and  co-ordina- 
tion with  new  lines. 


12    TRACKS  ^ 

5   EMPTY    TRAINS   >■ 
7    FULL 


M  Wll ATTW 


EXISTING   TRACK    CAPACITY 


:^: 


COMMUNITY  CENTER 


NEW 
TRACK    CAPACITY 


Plate  XI— DIAGRAM  SHOWIXC,  EXISTINC   AND   NEW  TRACK  CAPACITY 


50  TURXKR 

Although  at  times  the  gain  has  seemed  slow,  this  is  a  history  of  con- 
tinuous progress.  The  evolutionary  process  going  on  was  making  com- 
pany exploitation  more  difficult;  at  the  same  time  it  was  extending  the 
City's  powers.  Each  advance  step  was  bitterly  contested  by  individual 
and  corporate  interests,  but  the  pubhc  interest  was  gradually  and  surely 
prevailing.  Municipal  transportation  was  being  removed  more  and  more 
from'  the  realms  of  business  and  was  becoming  to  a  greater  and  greater 
extent  a  social  problem,  until  now  the  City  is  almost  in  supreme  control. 
Coincidcntly,  however,  the  principle  has  been  recognized  that  if  the  City 
is  going  to  assume  the  supreme  control,  it  must  also  assume  the  greater 
responsibility,  and  therefore  the  contractor  must  be  protected  in  his  in- 
vestment first,  the  City  coming  second.  This  last  is  the  principle  under- 
lying the  Dual  Contracts. 

The  Dual  System  not  only  meets  the  immediate  requirements,  but  also 
provides  for  the  future.  Whenever  new  lines  are  needed  the  City  can 
construct  them, -and  the  companies  are  required  by  their  contracts  to 
operate  them — the  City,  however,  assumes  any  operating  deficit. 

Although  the  Greater  City  is  17  years  old,  except  for  the  four  sub- 
way stations  In  Brooklyn,  The  Bronx  is  the  only  outlying  borough  actu- 
ally having  transit  intercommunication  with  Manhattan.  In  Brooklyn's 
case  the  Dual  System  largely  remedies  this  condition  by  co-ordinating 
the  old  lines  and  new  lines — by  doing  this  Brooklyn's  accessibility  to 
Manhattan  will  be  increased  nearly  5000%  at  one  stroke.  To  obtain  the 
greatest  benefit  from  this  enormous  gain,  it  were  better  to  forget  Brook- 
lyn as  Brooklyn  and  consider  it  as  what  it  properly  Is — an  integral  part 
of  the  Greater  City. 

Transit  work  must  not  cease.  Richmond  should  be  brought  Into 
the  plan.  Queens  should  have  more  lines.  In  Brooklyn  the  existing  lines 
cannot  develop  their  full  capacities  with  the  existing  outlets  to  JManhat- 
tan.  More  outlets  into  and  traversing  Manhattan  are  required.  This  will 
permit  the  removal  of  some  of  the  elevated  lines  now  cluttering  Brooklyn's 
principal  streets,  and  their  connection  with  subways  into  and  tlu-ough 
Manhattan. 

Never  before  In  this  City,  and  as  far  as  I  know  In  no  other  city  In 
this  country,  has  it  been  possible  to  develop  the  transit  facilities  In  then- 
proper  relation  to  the  other  features  of  the  city  plan.  The  Dual  System 
permits  this  to  be  accomplished.  Transit  lines  can  now  be  built  out  Into 
entirely  undeveloped  sections,  thus  creating  new  lines  of  travel,  not  ad- 
hering to  old  ones ;  preceding  the  population,  not  following  the  popula- 
tion; providing  new  territories  for  the  constantly  Increasing  population, 
not  confining  it  to  the  existing  population  centers  and  along  old  lines  of 
travel;  and  thereby  constantly  promoting  the  growth  of  the  entire  City 
as  a  unit,  not  retarding  it. 


UAPIU   TKANSIT    DKV  i:  l.O  I'M  I'.NT  51 

When  tlic  Duiil  System  is  In  opeivition  completely  and  the  needed 
extensions  provided,  instead  of  being  a  collection  of  separated  borough 
communities,  New  York  for  the  first  time  will  be  a  unified  city  in  fact  as 
well  as  in  name.  The  City's  future  growth  must  be  built  on  its  transit 
skeleton.  Its  transportation  system  must  be  the  real  foundation  for  the 
city  plan  of  the  future. 


Chapter  VII 

Recreation,  Civic  Architecture,  Building  Districts  and  General 
Summary  of  Present  City  Planning  Needs 

GEORGE  B.  FORD 

Recreation 

Parks — From  its  earliest  days  New  York  has  been  noted  for  its 
parks.  Even  on  the  earliest  plans  of  the  City  we  find  spaces  left  open  for 
common  use  and  for  parade  grounds.  The  Battery  and  City  Hall  Park 
existed  almost  from  the  beginning  of  the  City.  In  the  plan  of  1807,  we 
find  not  only  those  parks  but  a  number  of  small  proposed  parks  of  about 
four  blocks  each,  such  as  Blooniingdale  Square,  Manhattan  Square, 
Haarlem  Square,  Observatory  Place,  Hamilton  Square,  Haarlem  Marsh, 
The  Market  Place,  Union  Place,  and  lastly,  "  The  Parade,"  which  occu- 
pied all  the  space  between  23d  and  34th  Streets  and  between  3d  and  7th 
Avenues.  Of  these,  Manhattan  Square  still  exists  as  the  site  of  the 
Natural  History  Museum.  Haarlem  Square  has  been  superseded  by 
Mount  Morris  Park.  The  Parade  has  been  reduced  to  Madison  Square. 
Union  Place  has  been  reduced  in  size  and  the  other  proposed  parks  have 
never  been  opened.  New  York  made  its  first  great  step  forward  in  cre- 
ating its  park  system  with  the  acquisition  of  Central  Park  between  1856 
and  1863.  Its  843  acres  cost  the  City  .$6,664,502,  of  which  a  little  more 
than  a  quarter  was  assessed  on  abutting  property  owners,  and  the  rest 
on  the  City  as  a  whole. 

Not  only  was  New  York  City  one  of  the  first  cities  in  America  to 
acquire  ahead  of  its  growth  a  large  open  space  for  park  use,  but  in  the 
design  and  layout  of  this  park  under  Frederick  Law  Olmsted  and  Calvin 
A^aux  it  set  a  new  style  in  informal,  picturesque  landscape  design,  which 
revolutionized  park  layouts  throughout  the  world.  For  it  was  not  until 
after  Central  Park  had  been  laid  out  that  the  historic  parks  of  Europe 
were  changed  over  from  a  formal  to  an  informal  treatment. 

The  next  large  park  to  be  acquired  in  Greater  New  York  was  Pros- 
pect Park  in  Brooklyn,  which  was  bought  between  1864  and  1869.  Its 
526  acres  cost  the  City  $3,210,981,  of  which  between  40  and  45  per  cent 
was  assessed  locally.  Prospect  Park  with  its  charming,  picturesque 
treatment  was  also  designed  by  Olmsted  and  Vaux.  The  part  of  River- 
side Drive  and  Park  below  129th  Street  was  bought  between  1872  and 
1903.  It  contains  a  total  of  190  acres,  costing  the  City  $8,239,931,  of 
which  two-fifths  was  assessed  locally.     Olmsted  made  the  original  design 


1  /^'"-^-'^^ 


■■     ©.■ 


7^ 


LJUiUiUiUl 


"]1  [^ .    °"-^^^|^y^|^g|^\.  V^^Mj^f^' -1^  :^^ 


Plate   XII-PLAN  OF  PORTION  OF  CENTRAL  PARK  SHOWING   INFORMAL  LANDSCAPE  DESIGN 


54  FORD 

for  the  layout  of  the  lower  part  and  the  work  was  executed  under  Samuel 
Parsons.  Van  Courtlandt  Park  was  acquired  between  1884  and  1909, 
and  its  1,132  acres  cost  the  City  $2,401,684.  Pelham  Bay  Park  was 
acquired  between  1888  and  1891,  and  its  1,756  acres  cost  the  City  $2,746,- 
667.  Bronx  Park  was  acquired  by  the  City  between  1888  and  1904,  and 
its  719  acres  cost  the  City  $2,408,996.  The  northern  part,  which  is  given 
over  to  the  use  of  the  New  York  Botanical  Society,  was  designed  by  John 
R.  Brinley.  The  southern  part,  which  is  used  by  the  New  York  Zoologi- 
cal Society,  was  designed  by  George  Deerdower.  The  layout  of  Van 
Courtlandt  Park  and  Pelham  Bay  Park  was  designed  and  executed  by 
Samuel  Parsons,  Landscape  Architect  of  the  Park  Department.  Crotona 
Park  in  The  Bronx  was  acquired  by  the  City  between  1888  and  1911  and 
its  154  acres  cost  the  City  $1,332,788.  It,  too,  was  designed  by  Samuel 
Parsons.  Forest  Park  in  Queens  was  acquired  between  1895  and  1898, 
and  its  536  acres  cost  the  City  $1,276^773.  So  far,  except  for  a  few  road- 
ways and  paths,  it  has  been  left  in  its  natural  state.  A  plan  for  the 
layout  of  this  park  has  been  made  by  Frederick  Law  Olmsted  but  has  not 
yet  been  carried  out.  Dyker  Beach  Park  was  bought  by  the  City  in  1895, 
and  its  140  acres  cost  the  City  $229,942.  Rockaway  Park  was  bought 
by  the  City  in  1912  and  its  262  acres  cost  the  City  $1,316,458.  High- 
land Park,  acquired  between  1891  and  1908,  with  an  area  of  102  acres, 
cost  the  City  $504,000.  This  completes  the  list  of  New  York  parks  of 
100  acres  or  more.  They  are  eleven  in  number  with  an  aggregate  area 
of  6,361  acres.  They  have  cost  the  City  almost  $30,333,000,  of  which 
$6,287,000  out  of  the  cost  of  the  first  three  was  assessed  locally. 

In  addition  to  the  above  the  City  has  bought  many  smaller  parks, 
squares  and  open  spaces,  so  that  at  the  present  time  the  park  area  actu- 
ally acquired  for  each  of  the  five  boroughs  is  as  follows : 

PARK  AREAS  IN   NEW  YORK 

Per  Cent  of  Total 
Borough  Acres  iu  Parks  Area  of  Bor-  Population  per 

ough  in  Parks  Acre  of  Park 

Manhattan   1440.19  10.25  1745 

Bronx     39.37.72  15.13  155 

Brooklyn 1141.12  2.29  1648 

Queens 1057.75  1.27  353 

Richmond   63.56  .17  '534 

Totals    7640.34 3^65 716 

We  see  from  the  above  table  that  for  the  whole  City  of  New  York  there 
are  7,640.4  acres  of  park  space  for  197,599  acres  in  the  City  as  a  whole, 
or  3.81%  of  the  area  of  the  City  is  in  parks.  As  the  total  population 
of  the  City  is  5,476,996,  this  means  tliat  there  are  for  each  acre  of  park 
space  in  the  City  716  inhabitants.     The  following  table  shows  the  com- 


Plate  XIII— MAP  SHOWING   PARKS  AND   PARKWAYS  IN    NEW   YORK  CITY  AND  VICINITY 


parative  amount  of  space  devoted  to  parks  in  other  cities,  both  here  and 
abroad : 


PARK   AREAS   OF    LEADING    CITIES 


City. 

Park  Area 

Per  Cent  of  Total 
Area  of  City 

Population  per 
Acre  of  Park 

New  Yorl- 

7,640 
6,652 
5,397 

5,278 

15,175 
3,500 

3,81 

8.9 

6.21 
4.51 
3.30 

716 

London    

680 

Philadelphia    

Boston  Metropolitan   Dis- 

204 

Essex  &  Hudson  Counties. 
N.  J 

300 

Tlie  park  figures  which  we  have  been  presenting  above  do  not  take  account 
of  boulevard  and  avenue  space,  which,  on  account  of  its  treatment  with 
trees  and  grass  jjlots,  etc.,  perhaps  should  be  considered  as  a  part  of  the 
park  .system,  especially  as  integral  connecting  links  between  the  parks. 

From  a  study  of  these  maps  and  tables  it  is  evident  that  Manhattan 
and  The  Bronx  comjDare  very  favorably  in  their  park  area  with  the  stand- 
ards set  by  other  large  cities.  In  Brooklyn,  the  space  devoted  to  parks 
is  below  the  average,  while  in  Queens  and  Richmond  the  park  space  is 
barely  adequate  for  present  needs,  with  no  provision  whatsoever  for  the 
future  growth  of  the  borough.  In  both  of  these  boroughs  and  in  the  out- 
lying sections  of  Brooklyn  there  are  large  tracts  of  land  which,  in  their 
natural  beauty,  are  wonderfully  suited  to  park  use,  far  better  than  to 
any  other  use,  even  housing.  As  these  tracts  are  as  yet  unimproved,  they 
can  be  acquired  b}'  the  City  at  comparatively  low  cost  now.  In  the  map 
of  Greater  New  York,  made  in  1900  for  the  Paris  l'',\liil)itiiin  by  Louis 
Risse,  city  engineer  at  that  time,  we  find  a  great  many  tracts  of  this  sort 
set  apart  as  proposed  parks.  Also  the  New  York  City  Iin|)rovement  Com- 
mission in  its  rejjort  of  1907  made  many  recommendations  for  the  ac- 
quiring of  park  land,  in  particular  for  the  Borough  of  Queens,  according 
to  the  report  prepared  by  Frederick  Law  Olmsted,  Jr.  Two  years  ago 
the  park  commissioner  again  presented  this  report  of  Mr.  Olmsted's  in 
revised  form,  but  very  little  was  done  with  it.  On  the  new  uniform  scale 
map  for  the  five  boroughs,  which  has  just  been  prepared  by  Mr.  Nelson 
P.  Lewis,  there  are  many  tracts  which  are  denoted  as  "  proposed  parks," 
but  the  City  has  no  definite  policy  as  to  the  acquisition  of  these  areas. 
On  the  other  hand  the  present  policy  of  the  Committee  on  the  City  Plan 
is  to  remove  the  name  "  proposed  park  "  from  these  tracts  and  simply 
leave  them  as  unplotted  areas.  Of  late  the  City  has  acquired  very  few 
park  areas  of  any  importance  and  tliose  it  has  acquired  it  lias  bought  only 
as  some  special  opportunity  was  presented  to  the  City  rather  than  ac- 
cording to  any  well  defined  jiolicy  of  rounding  out  tl^e  park  system. 


KKCRKATIOS 


57 


111  .ulditioii  to  the  parks  within  tlie  City  limits  the  metroiiolitjin  area 
should  t.ikf  jucomit  of  the  park  systems  of  Hudson,  Essex  and  Union 
Counties  in  New  Jersey,  the  Palisades  Interstate  Park,  wiiieh  starts  just 
above  Fort  Lee  Ferry  and  runs  along  tiie  Hudson  River  to  the  Harriman 
tract  in  the  llamapo  Mountains,  and  the  Bronx  Itiver  I'arkway,  which 
starts  at  the  nortliern  boundary  of  Bronx  Park  in  New  York  and  fol- 
lows the  Bronx  River  for  fifteen  miles  to  the  north.  As  tlie  Palisades 
Interstate  Park,  es])eeially,  is  largely  used  by  New  York  people,  it  should 
be  considered  as  part  of  the  New  York  City  park  system.  The  Essex 
and  Hudson  County  parks  aggregate  3,500  acres  or  one  acre  for  every 
300  people.  The  Palisades  Park,  including  the  Bear  Mountain  and  Harri- 
man tracts,  contains  20,000  acres.  The  Bronx  River  Parkway  contains 
1,130  acres.  This  makes  a  total  of  about  28,770  acres  of  park  space 
available  to  7,000,000  people. 

Playgrounds — The  movement  for  jjlaygrounds  and  organized  play 
started  in  America.  In  fact,  the  first  playgrounds  in  the  world,  in  a 
modern  sense,  were  started  along  the  Charles  bank  in  Boston  many  years 
ago.  The  movement  for  organized  play  and  equipped  playgrounds  spread 
ver}'  slowly  at  first  and  had  no  general  development  of  importance  until 
Ciiicago  started  its  great  sj'stem  of  playgrounds  and  plaA-ground  parks. 
This  system  iias  set  an  example  which  is  now  being  followed  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree  all  over  the  world.  New  York  City  was  early  in  the  field 
and  it  has  gradually  been  acquiring  more  and  more  playground  space 
throughout  the  five  boroughs.  In  addition  to  the  special  playgrounds, 
the  Board  of  Education  has  adopted  a  policy  of  providing  recreation 
space  out  of  doors  adjacent  to  each  of  its  schoolhouses.  Working  out  a 
closer  co-operation  in  policy  between  these  two  sets  of  jjlaygrounds  might 
well  be  to  the  advantage  of  all.  Together  they  would  be  the  natural 
nucleus  of  a  "  Neighborhood  Center,"  about  which  would  be  grouped 
those  buildings  which  had  to  do  with  the  common  life  of  the  local  com- 
nninity.  The  Board  of  Education  has  also  eight  athletic  fields,  the  total 
acreage  of  wliidi  is  1.5.9-i  acres,  and  in  the  five  boroughs  they  have  22 
school  sites  entirely  unoccupied  and  unused.  In  addition  to  the  above 
the  City  has  lately  set  apart  in  the  larger  parks  several  areas  which  arc 
used  exclusively  for  play  purposes,  for  gj'mnastic  apparatus,  for  tennis 
courts,  for  ball  fields,  ponds  for  skating  and  boating,  etc.  The  City  has 
also  eiglit  recreation  piers,  where  the  second  story  of  public  docks  is 
devoted  exclusively  to  play  use.  To  jirovide  still  further  local  play  space 
in  congested  districts,  the  City  has  during  the  last  two  or  three  years 
been  roping  off  certain  asphalted  streets.  21  in  Manhattan  and  .5  in  Brook- 
Ivn  last  year,  for  the  length  of  a  block  during  certain  hours  of  the  day? 
so  that  the  children  could  play  tiiere  out  of  danger  of  jiassing  vehicles. 
In  addition  to  the  play  space  provided  by  the  City,  the  New  York  Parks 
and  Playground  Association  and  its  Brooklyn  Committee  and  certain  of 


58  FORD 

the  social  settlements  and  other  agencies  have  been  opening  up  vacant 
private  lots  for  play  use,  chiefly  in  Manhattan  and  Brooklyn,  putting 
play  apparatus  in  them,  and  putting  a  play  director  in  charge.  The 
newly  formed  Bronx  Committee  operated  eight  playgrounds  in  the  public 
parks  of  The  Bronx  this  last  summer.  Lately  combined  yard  space  in  the 
centers  of  blocks  has  shown  great  possibiUties  for  playground  use.  The 
policy  is  well  deserving  of  study  with  a  view  to  applying  it  in  laying  out 
new  subdivisions.  Through  these  various  agencies,  both  public  and  pri- 
vate, the  City  has  available  a  considerable  area  for  open  air  play  use, 
and  the  following  table  will  show  how  this  is  distributed  throughout  the 
City  and  the  amount  of  space  available  per  child : 


PLAYGROUND  AREAS  IN  NEW  YORK 


Square 

Feet  of 

Acres 

Total 

in 

Space  per 

in 

Acreage 

Population 

in 

School 

Child  in 

School 

in 

per 

Play- 

Play- 

School 

Athletic 

Play 

Acre  of 

grounds 

grounds 

Play- 
grounds 

Fields 

Space 

Pla.\groiuid 

Mnnliattan    .. 

101.32 

24.6 

4.23 

1.82 

127.74 

19.700 

7.00 

32.8 

17.74 

5.00 

44.80 

13,850 

Brooklyn    . . . 

.       94.27 

72.2 

12.92 

5.30 

171.77 

11.000 

2.27 

67 

5.5.54 

2.17 

71.17 

S.-'^OO 

Richmond    . . 

36.8 

119.84 

1.65 

38.45 

2..500 

Total    

.     201.87 

234 

15.82 

15.94 

453.93 

12,000 

The  experieiuc  of  Cliitago  with  its  playgrounds  has  proved  that  each 
child  needs  about  scvcnty-Hve  square  feet  of  playground  space.  Their 
minimum  standard  !.■,  thirty  square  feet.  If  the  playground  system  is 
going  to  be  of  any  great  value,  there  should  be  a  playground  within  one 
quarter  of  a  mile  of  every  home,  and  larger  play  fields  should  be  within  a 
i-easonable  distance  and  a  5  cent  fare  of  every  part  of  the  City.  On 
studying  our  maps  and  figures  we  find  that  only  a  very  small  proportion 
of  tlie  City  measures  up  to  these  requirements,  and  that  only  for  the 
present  population  with  very  little  provision  for  the  future  except  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  large  parks  in  the  Bronx.  Most  of  Queens  and  Rich- 
mond not  only  have  made  no  provision  for  the  future,  but  have  hardly 
made  a  beginning  by  taking  care  of  their  present  recreation  needs. 

The  direction  and  control  of  recreation  in  the  City  is  in  charge  of 
the  Bureau  of  Recreation  of  the  Department  of  Parks  in  Manhattan,  a 
special  official  of  the  Park  Department  in  Brooklyn,  and  the  Recreational 
Department  of  the  Board  of  Education.  The  recreation  piers  are  under 
the  supervision  of  the  Pai-k  Departments  and  the  play  in  closed  off  streets 
is  under  the  control  of  the  Police  Department.  Playgrounds  on  vacant 
private  lots  are  managed  by  the  Parks  and  Playgrounds  Association  and 


CIVIC     ARCHlflXTURK  OW 

by  tlic  social  settlements.  In  addition,  the  Recreation  Commission  wiiich 
was  created  several  years  ago  co-operates  witii  tiicse  otlicr  agencies,  and 
furtiiermore  lias  under  its  direct  control  the  public  gymnasiums  and  cer- 
tain open  sjjaccs.  Correlating  all  of  the  above,  the  general  policy  of  rec- 
reation for  the  City  is  under  the  control  of  the  Committee  on  Social 
Welfare  of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment. 

Many  suggestions  for  an  extension  of  the  recreational  system  have 
been  presented  from  time  to  time  by  the  Parks  and  Playgrounds  Associa- 
tion, by  the  Recreation  Conmiission  and  by  various  groups  throughout  the 
City  interested  in  recreation  in  particular,  or  civic  welfare  in  general. 
More  specifically,  a  comprehensive  plan  for  the  extension  of  the  play- 
ground system  in  Brooklyn  was  presented  two  years  ago  by  the  Brooklyn 
City  Plan  Committee.  Unfortunately,  except  for  the  remarkable  work 
done  by  Jacob  Riis,  in  the  nineties,  in  acquiring  small  parks  m  the  crowded 
lower  east  side  of  Manhattan,  there  has  been  no  active  policy  of  acquiring 
land  for  playground  use. 

Conclusion — Playgrounds  witli  directed  ])lay  are  recognized  gener- 
ally as  a  necessity  in  cities  in  order  to  insure  to  the  child  a  healthy  and 
normal  growth.  Parks  are  necessary  as  lungs  for  the  community  and 
as  places  of  recreation.  Most  of  New  York  is  woefully  lacking  in  both, 
even  for  its  present  population.  There  are  various  tracts  within  the  city, 
as  yet  undeveloped,  which  are  eminently  suited  by  nature  to  park  use. 
It  often  happens  on  account  of  peculiarities  of  topography  that  such  land 
is  useful  for  parks  just  in  proportion  as  it  is  useless  for  any  other  pur- 
pose. Tlicrefore,  it  can  be  had  at  low  cost.  The  City  needs  now  a 
scientifically  worked  out  program  plan  for  the  extension  of  the  park  and 
playground  system,  based  on  the  carefully  estimated  growth  of  the  City 
for  a  long  time  to  come.  Such  a  plan  should  be  closely  co-ordinated 
witli  the  plans  for  tlic  thoroughfare,  street  and  transit  system  and  those 
for  the  districting  of  the  City. 

Civic  Arciiitecturf. 

From  tlie  standpoint  of  the  general  appearance  of  the  City  and  the 
impression  tliat  it  makes  on  the  visitor,  the  character  and  quality  of  its 
architecture  is  of  the  greatest  importance.  No  one  likes  an  ugly  or  sordid 
city,  and  unless  it  appeals  to  the  eye  it  is  very  difficult  for  the  visitor 
or  even  the  citizen  to  be  really  enthusiastic  about  the  City.  It  is  well 
known  that  under  our  laws  it  is  impossible  for  the  City  to  control  the 
appearance  of  privately  owned  structures ;  but  it  does  have  full  control 
over  public  buildings  and  structures,  and  by  demanding  that  such  build- 
ings be  designed  with  taste  it  can  not  only  set  a  worthy  example  to 
private  builders,  but  by  the  very  number  of  the  public  structures  can  have 
a  marked  influence  upon  the  effect  of  the  City  as  a  whole. 


From  the  first  the  average  quality  of  City  architecture  in  New 
York  has  been  wood.  In  the  oldest  prints  and  views  of  Manhattan  we  find 
pubUc  buildings  that  were  quite  worth  while  architecturally.  There  were, 
too,  interesting  grouping  of  buildings,  such  as  "  Bridewell,"  the  "  Work- 
house "  and  the  "  Goal,"  as  they  stood  on  the  site  just  north  of  the 
present  City  Hall.  The  Governor's  house  was  beautifully  set  where  the 
Custom  House  now  stands,  as  was  the  old  City  Hall,  at  the  intersection 
of  Wall  and  Broad  Streets.  The  present  City  Hall  was  designed  by 
Mangin  and  McComb  in  1803-1811,  and  with  its  open  setting  is  one  of 
the  architectural  gems  of  the  country.  Later  we  have  interesting  groups, 
such  as  the  Metropolitan  Art  Museum,  the  Natural  History  Museum, 
The  Brooklyn  Institute,  City  College,  New  York  University,  Columbia 
University,  Bcllevue  Hospital,  and  the  Bronx  Zoo  Buildings,  etc.  We  have 
latterly  tiie  striking  urcliiteetural  treatment  of  most  of  our  bridges  and  the 
plans  which  are  being  carried  out  for  their  approaches,  including  the  great 
private  bridge  of  the  New  York  Connecting  Railways.  The  proposed  plans 
for  the  future  layout  of  Blackwell's  Island,  for  the  Park  Circle  Plaza 
and  the  Brooklyn  Public  Library,  which  is  already  being  built,  are  in- 
teresting suggestions  in  civic  grouping.  Probably,  however,  the  most 
important  work  which  the  City  is  doing  in  civic  design  is  in  the  planning 
of  the  Civic  Centers  for  each  of  the  five  boroughs.  The  Brooklyn  City 
Plan  Committee  and  the  Bridge  Department  have  prepared  most  elaborate 
and  interesting  plans  for  the  Brooklyn  Civic  Center  and  bridge  approach. 
Richmond  already  has  a  promising  Civic  Center  well  under  way  about  its 
charming  new  Borough  Hall.  Queens  has  a  nucleus  for  a  Civic  Center 
about  its  Court  House,  and  The  Bronx  is  just  at  the  present  moment 
trying  to  decide  on  the  site  for  its  County  Center  to  supplement  the  pres- 
ent Civic  Center  at  Crotona  Park.  The  greatest  work,  however,  in  civic 
design  that  the  City  is  now  undertaking  is  the  building  of  a  great  Civic 
Center  about  the  circular  Court  House  in  Manhattan,  where  the  City  is 
acquiring  about  $10,000,000  worth  of  land  in  order  to  give  the  magnifi- 
cent circular  Court  Building  proper  approaches  and  setting  on  all  sides. 
In  addition  to  the  above  forms  of  civic  architecture,  the  P\iblic 
Service  Commission  is  doing  much  to  enhance  the  appearance  of  the  City 
in  improving  the  quality  of  the  design  of  its  rapid  transit  structures  and 
stations,  particularly  in  the  parts  about  to  be  built  in  Queens  and  The 
Bronx.  Similar  interesting  work  has  been  done  for  the  City  in  the  con- 
trol of  the  design  of  street  fixtures  such  as  lighting  standards,  telegraph 
and  telephone  poles,  watering  troughs,  subway  kiosks,  public  comfort 
stations,  and  other  street  accessories,  for  the  architectural  quality  of 
these  has  vastly  improved  within  the  past  few  years. 

The  City  has  also  been  fortunate  recently  in  the  quality  of  the  monu- 
ments and  statues  erected  in  the  streets,  and  parks,  such  as  the  Pulitzer 
fountain,    tiie    P^iremen's    monument,    the    Carl    Srhnrz    and    the    Strauss 


62  FORD 

memorials,  etc.,  as  well  as  in  the  case  of  older  monuments,  such  as  the 
Washington  and  Brooklyn  Arches  and  the  Hunt  Memorial,  the  Soldiers' 
and  Sailors'  Monument,  the  column  in  Brooklyn  and  the  Sherman 
and  Farragut  statues.  After  all,  perhaps  some  of  the  greatest  con- 
tributions to  civic  architecture  have  been  made  by  private  corporations ; 
as,  for  example,  the  great  educational  group  around  Columbia  University. 
The  New  York  Central  has  also  set  a  remarkable  object  lesson  in  the  de- 
sign and  placing  of  the  Grand  Central  Station  with  approaches  north  and 
south,  and  particularly  in  the  waj'  it  has  preserved  a  uniform  cornice  line 
on  the  west  side  of  Vanderbilt  Avenue,  of  the  same  height  and  character 
as  that  of  the  station  itself  across  the  street.  As  an  example  of  the  possi- 
bilities in  improving  the  appearance  of  the  City,  particularly  in  the  out- 
lying sections,  the  work  which  has  been  done  by  the  Sage  Foundation 
Homes  Company  at  Forest  Hills  Gardens,  Long  Island,  in  the  design  and 
arrangement  and  harmonious  grouping  of  the  station  and  all  of  its  sur- 
roundings, is  particularly  interesting.  For  sheer  beauty  New  York 
City  can  boast  of  views  or  vistas  which  compare  with  those  of  any  city  in 
the  world.  Not  only  is  the  effectiveness  of  Columbia  University  Library, 
with  its  great  formal  terracing  and  approaches,  hardly  surpassed  in 
Europe,  but  almost  nowhere  can  we  find  a  view  that  compares  in  charm 
and  inspiration  with  that  obtained  by  standing  in  front  of  the  northwest 
door  of  tlie  IMunicipal  Building,  looking  up  through  its  beautifully  de- 
signed arch,  over  that  gem  of  arcliitecture,  the  City  Hall,  to  the  wonder- 
ful Woolworth  Building  rising  beyond.  It  is  a  remarkable  standard  for 
the  City  to  live  up  to  in  its  future  civic  art. 

The  City  has  been  in  the  habit  of  having  all  of  its  buildings  of  any 
importance  designed  by  private  architects.  The  City  has  had  at  several 
periods  for  a  short  time  a  consulting  architect.  The  Board  of  Edu- 
cation has  its  own  architectural  department.  In  general,  from  all  of  tliese 
sources  the  results  have  been  comparatively  good.  However,  the  great 
advance  in  the  control  of  the  quality  of  civic  architecture  came  with  the 
creation  of  the  Art  Commission  of  the  City  of  New  York  on  January  1, 
1898.  Boston  had  an  art  commission  with  very  limited  powers  in  1890 
and  Baltimore  in  1895.  Mr.  John  M.  Carrere,  acting  through  the  Society 
of  Beaux-Arts  Architects  and  through  the  Fine  Arts  Federation,  proposed 
in  1896  that  such  a  commission  should  be  appointed  in  New  York  City. 
An  act  creating  it  and  giving  it  very  broad  powers  was  incorporated  in 
the  Charter  of  the  Greater  City.  During  the  first  four  years  of  its  ex- 
istence it  had  jurisdiction  only  over  works  of  art  and  it  passed  upon  the 
designs  of  public  sti-uctures  only  when  requested  to  do  so  by  the  Mayor 
or  the  Board  of  Aldermen.  Since  1902,  however,  the  law  requires  it  not 
only  to  pass  upon  all  works  of  art  but  upon  all  public  structures  of  any 
sort,  and  upon  all  private  structures  built  wholly  or  in  part  upon  public 
land  ;  also  upon  the  lines,  grades  and  plotting  of  all  public  grounds.    The 


-  w 


64  roED 

only  exception  under  such  jurisdiction  is  that  when  a  structure  is  to  be 
erected  costing  $250,000  or  less,  the  Commission  shall  not  act  if  requested 
not  to  do  so  by  the  Mayor  or  the  Board  of  Aldermen.  Such  a  request 
has  never  been  made.  There  are  ten  members  of  the  Commission,  of  ivhich 
four  ex-officio  members  are  the  Mayor,  the  President  of  the  Metropolitan 
Museum,  the  President  of  the  Public  Library  and  the  President  of  the 
Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  The  other  six  members  are 
appointed  by  the  Mayor  from  a  list  consisting  of  three  times  as  many  can- 
didates as  are  to  be  appointed,  submitted  to  the  Mayor  by  the  Fine  Arts 
Federation.  Of  these  six  one  must  be  an  architect,  one  a  sculptor  and  one 
a  painter,  and  the  other  three  laymen.  There  is  a  further  provision  that 
when  a  structure  is  under  the  special  jurisdiction  of  a  conmiissioner  or  a 
department  of  the  City,  such  commissioner  or  the  licad  of  such  depart- 
ment shall  be  a  member  of  the  Art  Commission  during  the  consideration 
of  the  designs. 

The  Art  Commission  acts  as  a  jury  and  considers  not  only  the  artistic 
quality  of  plans,  drawings  or  models  submitted  to  it  but  considers  the 
appropriateness  of  their  site  and  the  fitness  of  the  design  to  its  use.  The 
approval  of  the  Ait  Commissioners  is  essential  on  all  matters  over  which 
tliey  have  jurisdiction,  and  final  payment  cannot  be  made  until  they  have 
approved  of  the  design,  but  if  they  fail  to  pass  upon  a  design  within  sixty 
davs  of  the  time  when  it  was  submitted  to  them  tiie  work  can  be  carried 
on  without  waiting  further  for  their  approval.  They  have  no  initiative 
and  make  no  concrete  suggestions  for  improving  designs  submitted  to 
them.  Many  hundred  matters  are  submitted  to  them  in  the  course  of  a 
year,  but  as  it  works  out,  many  matters  which  should  by  law  be  submitted 
tb  them  are  not,  in  fact,  as  the  Commission  lacks  the  funds  necessary  to 
following  up  all  building  on  City  land.  That  they  have  had  a  marked 
influence  in  raising  the  standard  of  taste  and  beauty  of  public  structures 
is  obvious  to  any  one  who  compares  the  designs  as  first  submitted  to  them 
with  the  designs  as  they  finally  approve  them. 

Under  Mayor  McClellan  for  the  two  years  following  July  1,  1907, 
Mr.  Walter  Cook  sei-ved  as  Consulting  Architect  to  the  Board  of  Esti- 
mate and  Apportionment.  His  duties  were  to  supervise  the  preparation 
of  plans,  designs  and  specifications  connected  with  the  construction  of 
all  public  buildings  authorized  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportion- 
ment. His  work  was  creative  and  he  had  the  initiative  which  the  Art 
Commission  lacked.  In  this  capacity  he  had  a  marked  effect  on  the 
quality  of  City  architecture  during  the  two  years  that  he  was  in  office. 

There  remains  much  constructive  work  to  be  done  in  carrying  out 
the  future  building  of  the  City,  not  only  in  creative  design,  but  in  choos- 
ing sites  and  in  the  study  of  the  relative  location  of  buildings  as  erected 
by  different  departments,  so  as  to  gain  such  effectiveness  as  can  be 
secured  by  grouping.    The  City  needs  some  one  body  that  can  keep  a  clear 


perspective  of  the  whole  field  of  development  and  who  will  see  that  indi- 
vidual building  projects  as  they  come  up  conform  to  the  great  compre- 
hensive plan. 

CoXTROLLlXG     PlUVATE    DEVELOPMENT 

Probably  tlie  most  useful  function  the  City  can  exercise  along  gen- 
eral city  planning  lines  is  in  the  control  of  the  improvement  and  develop- 
ment of  pi-ivate  property.  Every  city  suffers  great  economic  and  social 
losses  from  the  haphazard  development  of  its  private  property.  As  things 
are  now,  with  rare  exceptions,  every  district  and  even  every  parcel  of 
property  is  developed  by  itself,  with  little  or  no  reference  to  its  relation 
with  its  surroundings  or  to  the  most  desirable  development  of  the 
neighborhood.  In  Germany  the  city  governments  do  show  a  decided 
control  over  the  development  of  private  property,  and  the  advantages 
which  their  methods  present  in  efficiency,  economy,  convenience  and  gen- 
eral well-being,  are  most  obvious.  In  America  we  have  done  very  little 
along  this  line.  For  example,  with  regard  to  housing,  we  find  notorious 
conditions  of  congestion  in  certain  parts  of  the  City,  while  as  yet  over 
three-quarters  of  the  area  of  the  City  is  unimproved.  We  find  people 
living  five  or  six  thousand  to  the  block  in  six-story  tenements  where  three- 
quarters  of  the  rooms  receive  no  sunlight  from  one  end  of  the  year  to  the 
other,  and  then  we  wonder  why  the  death  rate  from  tuberculosis  is  so 
high.  In  the  business  and  industrial  world  similar  conditions  prevail. 
People  work  year  in  and  year  out,  in  twelve-story  factory  loft  buildings 
which  cover  almost  solidly  the  whole  block.  To  alleviate  these  conditions 
the  City  has  already  done  quite  a  httle  in  a  curative  way,  but  almost 
nothing  in  the  way  of  j^revention.  The  State  Tenement  and  Labor  Laws 
and  the  City  Building  and  Sanitary  Codes  have  made  a  good  start  by 
limiting  the  height,  area  and  congestion  of  tenements  and  factories,  and 
to  a  slight  extent  thc3r  liave  limited  tlie  area  of  various  other  buildings. 
However,  while  these  restrictions  do  have  a  certain  effectiveness  in  alle- 
viating the  worst  conditions  in  the  City,  they  are  of  little  or  no  help  in 
preventing  the  recurrence  of  these  conditions  in  those  parts  of  the  City 
which  are  not  as  yet  built  up  so  densely. 

It  was  with  a  particular  view  to  making  a  start  toward  the  control 
by  the  City  of  undesirable  private  development,  that  Mr.  George 
McAneny,  then  president  of  the  Borough  of  Manhattan,  brought  for- 
ward the  problem  of  limiting  the  height,  area  and  arrangement  of  build- 
ings. This  resulted  in  the  appointment  by  the  Board  of  Estimate  and 
Apportionment,  in  March,  1913,  of  the  Heights  of  Buildings  Commis- 
sion, which  consisted  of  19  members,  with  Mr.  Edward  M.  Bassett,  for- 
merly Public  Service  Commissioner,  as  Chairman.  On  this  Commission 
were  a  number  of  the  leading  real  estate,  business  and  manufacturing 


^tl|UI   IM  MIJ 

9 

msiM' 

liiLi  UJ*Uii 

^  ■■^" '  ■ 

T-^f     ^^B 

lUHd  LJI^l 

"S 

L 

f  ;^            -J 

luLJ  Uil&Ji 

s 

k 

m^K '« 

^^!^? 

-^ 

1 

, 

^!&^ 


ase  map  reproduced  by  courtesy  of  Ohman  Map  Company 

Plate  XVIII— MAP.OF  UNIMPROVED  PROPERTY  IN  THE  BRONX 
Black  indicates  unimproved  land 


/:     ■. 


% 
I 


Borough  of  Brooklyn 


le  map  reproduced  by  courtesy  of  Ohman  Map  Company 

Plate  XIX— MAP  OF  PREVAILING    LAND  VALUES  IN  BROOKLYN 
Numerals  indicate  prevailing  assessed  value  per  front  foot  for  inside  lots 


70  FORD 

men  of  the  City,  as  well  as  leading  architects  and  engineers,  and  they 
all  gave  freely  of  their  time  and  energy  to  help  in  arriving  at  a  sane  solu- 
tion of  a  most  difficult  and  vital  problem.  An  appropriation  of  $15,000 
was  secured,  and  a  staff  appointed  with  Mr.  George  B.  Ford  as  Secretary 
and  Director  of  Investigations,  and  with  Mr.  Robert  H.  Whitten  as 
Special  Investigator  and  Editor  of  the  Report.  The  staff,  which  consisted 
of  some  36  members  in  all,  collected  the  available  data  with  regard  to 
building  restrictions  in  other  cities  both  here  and  abroad,  Mr.  Frank  B. 
Williams  being  sent  to  Europe  especially  to  report  on  the  character  and 
effect  of  restrictions  there.  The  staff  collected  data  with  regard  to 
building  matters  for  the  five  boroughs  of  New  York,  presenting  it  in  the 
form  of  reports,  tables,  charts  and  maps,  among  which  were  the  following : 

The  prevalence  of  the  use  of  artificial  light  during  the  day-time 
particularly  in  down-town  office  buildings. 

The  distribution  of  vacancies  in  their  relation  to  the  height  and  bulk 
of  buildings. 

The  general  classification  of  buildings  by  use. 

The  distribution  of  buildings  by  height. 

The  detailed  distribution  of  office  buildings,  hotels  and  lofts  by 
height. 

The  detailed  distribution  of  factories  by  heights  and  particular  use. 

The  detailed  distribution  of  residential  buildings  by  heights. 

The  distribution  of  assessed  land  values  per  front  foot. 

The  distribution  of  the  percentage  of  the  lot  covered  by  buildings. 

The  distribution  of  unimproved  property. 

The  distribution  of  brick  buildings  outside  of  the  fire  limits. 

The  detailed  distribution  of  buildings  by  height  in  lower  Manhattan 
and  along  Fifth  Avenue.  Further  the  staff  tried  out  many  different  ideas 
for  height  and  area  limitation  to  see  their  effect  on  typical  and  actual 
examples. 

The  result  of  the  work  of  this  Commission  was  the  submission  of 
a  report  to  the  Board  of  Estimate  in  December,  1913,  in  which  was  made 
a  specific  recommendation  for  a  general  height  and  area  limitation  for 
the  whole  City.  This  is  at  present  before  the  Board  of  Aldermen  in  the 
form  of  an  ordinance. 

The  Commission  felt  strongly  as  a  result  of  its  consideration  that 
the  City  should  be  districted  with  different  height,  area  and  character 
of  occupancy  regulations  for  different  parts  of  the  City.  Realizing  that 
the  City  Charter  would  probably  not  permit  such  districting,  the  Com- 
mission framed  two  Charter  Amendments,  which  would  give  the  City 
this  power.  These  two  amendments  permitting  the  Board  of  Estimate 
and  Apportionment  to  district  the  City  according  to  the  height,  area 
and  use   of  improvements   on  private   property,   and   authorizing   it   to 


of 


ngs   Commi; 


XX— USE  OF  ARTIFICIAL  LIGHT  IM  OFFICES  0\  EXCHANGE  PLACE 
FROM  BROAD  STREET  TO  BROADWAY.  OFFICES  WITH  WINDOWS 
BLACKED  IN  WERE  USING  ARTIFICIAL  LIGHT  AT  NOON  ON  A  BRIGHT 
DAY 


appoint  an  Advisory  Commission  on  Districts  and  Restrictions  who 
would  report  back  to  the  Board  with  a  definite  plan  of  action,  was  passed 
by  the  State  Legislature  and  became  a  law  in  May,  1914. 

In  June,  1914,  the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  upon  the 
report  of  its  Committee  on  the  City  Plan,  of  which  Mr.  McAneny  is 
Chairman,  appointed  a  Commission  on  Building  Districts  and  Restric- 
tions with  Mr.  Edward  M.  Bassett  again  as  Chairman,  and  with  seven- 
teen members,  many  of  whom  were  on  the  former  Commission.  Mr.  Robert 
H.  Whitten,  the  Secretary  of  the  Committee  on  the  City  Plan,  is  also  the 
Secretary  of  this  new  Commission,  and  Mr.  George  B.  Ford  is  its  Con- 
sultant, and  the  Committee  on  the  City  Plan  has  further  put  its  staff 
and  rooms  at  the  disposal  of  the  Commission.  At  the  first  meeting  of 
the  Commission  which  was  held  the  latter  part  of  June,  1914,  Mr.  Whitten 
and  Mr.  Ford  presented  a  plan  for  work  which  should  be  done  during  the 
summer  in  the  collection  of  data  fundamental  to  districting  work,  data 
which  was  essential,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  not  only  to  intelligent  district- 
ing, but  also  to  city  planning  work  as  a  whole.  The  Commission  recon- 
vened in  September  and  since  then  has  been  actively  at  work  determin- 
ing its  method  of  procedure  and  plan  of  campaign.  It  has  been  very  diffi- 
cult to  find  a  point  of  departure  in  starting  the  work,  as  there  is  almost 
no  precedent  for  an  undertaking  of  this  sort,  but  the  Commission  decided 
that  the  first  most  important  step  was  the  classification  of  buildings 
throughout  the  City,  in  accordance  with  their  tendency,  to  exist  in  groups 
noticeably  uniform  in  height,  area  or  use.  Latterly  the  Commission  has 
been  meeting  regularly  once  a  week  to  work  out  and  discuss  classifications 
and  to  determine  on  a  reasonable  height,  area,  setback  and  use  limitation 
for  each  type. 

In  addition  to  this  program  of  regulation  and  restriction  there  are 
many  possibilities  of  so  laying  out  block  and  lot  units  according  to  the 
best  use  of  any  property  as  to  forestall  the  necessity  of  much  of  the 
restrictive  program  which  now  seems  desirable.  This  matter  is  deserving 
of  most  careful  study.  Controlling  the  development  of  private  property 
not  only  for  the  welfare  of  the  City  as  a  whole  but  even  for  the  advan- 
tage of  the  particular  property  affected  is  one  of  the  greatest  functions 
of  city  planning.  In  no  way  can  the  City  exert  a  more  beneficial  influ- 
ence over  its  physical  growth  than  by  regulating  in  a  common-sense  way 
the  character  of  the  improvement  of  property. 

General  Summaky  of  City  Planning  Needs 

Enforcing  the  City  Plan  and  Paying  for  Improvements — In  order  to 
get  at  city  planning  satisfactorily,  we  must  have  proper  means  of  en- 
forcing the  city  plan  as  made  and  paying  for  improvements  as  carried 
out.     At  present  the  City  has  no  means  of  forcing  the  private  property 


By   cnurtcsy   of   Heij 

Key  to  H 


Platb  XXI— map  showing  HEIGHT  DISTRICTING 
IN  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


Plate  XXI— MAP  SHOWING  HEIGHT  DISTRICTING  IN  WASHINGTON.   D.  C. 
Key  to  Height  Limitations:     Olive.  160  feet;  red.  130  feet:  yellow.  95  feet;  green,  90  feet;  blue.  80  feet;  lavender.  60  to  85  feet;  whit 


SUMMARY    OF    CITY    PLANNING    NEEDS  78 

owner  who  is  laying  out  a  subdivision,  to  accept  the  city  map  for  his 
property  or  to  lay  out  his  system  of  tlioroughfares,  streets  and  blocks 
for  the  best  interests  of  the  community  as  a  whole.  The  City  sliould 
have  such  power. 

Furthermore  the  present  methods  of  paying  for  improvements, 
wliethcr  by  the  City  as  a  whole  or  by  local  assessment,  are  oftentimes 
most  unsatisfactoi-y.  The  City  should  have  the  power  of  excess  con- 
demnation for  carrying  out  such  enterprises  as  such  a  method  would 
render  peculiarly  profitable  to  the  City. 

Controlling  the  Development  of  Private  Property — The  City  has 
almost  no  control  over  the  development  of  private  property,  with  the 
result  that  it  is  developed  according  to  the  whim  of  individual  owners. 
This  has  caused  a  most  unfortunate  congestion  in  many  parts  of  the 
city,  with  a  distinct  menace  to  health,  safety  and  morals.  As  under  the 
police  power,  the  City  has  the  right  on  the  plea  of  danger  to  health, 
safety  or  morals,  or  general  convenience,  to  regulate  private  develop- 
ment, it  is  manifestly  to  the  advantage  of  the  City  to  profit  by  its  lesson 
of  the  past  and  prevent  the  recurrence  in  the  newer  districts  of  the  un- 
seemly conditions  which  we  find  now  in  many  of  the  older  regions. 

The  removal  of  encroachments  on  busy  streets  could  well  be 
continued  wherever  desirable,  setbacks  on  narrow  streets  should  be  called 
for  by  the  Cit}'  to  allow  for  future  convertibility  as  the  City  grows  and 
as  the  character  of  occupancy  changes. 

The  City,  under  the  police  power,  could  restrict  the  character  of 
occupancy  in  different  parts  of  the  City  for  the  welfare  of  the  citizens 
and  to  stabilize  property  values.  The  City  could  also  limit  the  height 
and  area  of  buildings,  differently,  in  different  parts  of  tlie  City,  in  order 
to  secure  to  all  the  greatest  amount  of  light,  air,  safety  and  amenity. 

Furthermore  it  would  be  desirable  to  make  studies  to  determine  the 
best  lot  and  block  units  for  the  various  parts  of  the  city,  with  a  view  to  the 
probable  future  use  of  the  property. 

Streets  and  Subdivisions — Under  the  Chief  Engineer,  Mr.  Nelson 
P.  Lewis,  a  very  considerable  start  has  been  made  toward  establishing 
a  system  of  thoroughfares  throughout  the  City,  but  very  much  yet 
remains  to  be  done.  There  should  be  worked  out  a  co-ordinated  system 
of  thoroughfares,  based  on  the  various  tendencies  of  development  of  the 
different  parts  of  the  City  and  on  their  probable  traffic  uses.  This  system 
should  be  based  not  only  on  the  needs  of  tlie  City  itself,  but  also  on  those 
of  the  whole  surrounding  district.  It  should,  furthermore,  consider  rapid 
transit  needs,  and  the  width  of  the  thoroughfares  should  be  based  on 
future  rapid  transit  use.  Especial  attention  should  be  given,  also,  to 
designing  the  thoroughfare  system,  so  that  it  would  properly  serve  the 
rapid  transit  and  railroad  stations. 


SUMMARY    OF    CITY    PLANNING    NEEDS  73 

owner  who  is  laying  out  a  subdivision,  to  accept  the  city  map  for  his 
property  or  to  lay  out  his  system  of  thoroughfares,  streets  and  blocks 
for  the  best  interests  of  the  community  as  a  whole.  The  City  should 
have  such  power. 

Furthermore  the  present  methods  of  paying  for  improvements, 
wlutlicr  by  the  City  as  a  whole  or  by  local  assessment,  are  oftentimes 
most  unsatisfactory.  The  City  should  have  tiie  power  of  excess  con- 
demnation for  carrying  out  such  enterprises  as  such  a  metiiod  would 
render  peculiarly  profitable  to  the  City. 

Controlling  the  Development  of  Private  Property — The  City  has 
almost  no  control  over  the  development  of  private  property',  with  the 
result  that  it  is  developed  according  to  the  whim  of  individual  owners. 
This  has  caused  a  most  unfortunate  congestion  in  many  parts  of  the 
city,  with  a  distinct  menace  to  health,  safety  and  morals.  As  under  the 
police  power,  the  City  has  the  right  on  the  plea  of  danger  to  health, 
safety  or  morals,  or  general  convenience,  to  regulate  private  develop- 
ment, it  is  manifestly  to  the  advantage  of  the  City  to  profit  by  its  lesson 
of  the  past  and  prevent  the  recurrence  in  the  newer  districts  of  the  un- 
seemlj'  conditions  which  we  find  now  in  many  of  the  older  regions. 

The  removal  of  encroachments  on  busy  streets  could  well  be 
continued  wherever  desirable,  setbacks  on  narrow  streets  should  be  called 
for  by  the  City  to  allow  for  future  convertibilit}'  as  the  City  grows  and 
as  the  cliaractcr  of  occupancy  changes. 

The  City,  under  the  police  power,  could  restrict  the  character  of 
occupancy  in  different  parts  of  the  City  for  the  welfare  of  the  citizens 
and  to  stabilize  property  values.  The  City  could  also  limit  the  height 
and  area  of  buildings,  differently,  in  different  parts  of  the  City,  in  order 
to  secure  to  all  the  greatest  amount  of  light,  air,  safety  and  amenity. 

Furthermore  it  would  be  desirable  to  make  studies  to  determine  the 
best  lot  and  block  units  for  the  various  parts  of  tlic  city,  with  a  view  to  the 
probable  future  use  of  the  property. 

Streets  and  Subdiiisions — Under  the  Chief  Engineer,  Mr.  Nelson 
P.  Lewis,  a  very  considerable  start  has  been  made  toward  establishing 
a  system  of  thoroughfares  througliout  the  Cit}-,  but  very  much  yet 
remains  to  be  done.  There  should  be  worked  out  a  co-ordinated  system 
of  thoroughfares,  based  on  the  various  tendencies  of  development  of  the 
different  parts  of  the  City  and  on  their  probable  traffic  uses.  This  system 
should  be  based  not  only  on  the  needs  of  the  City  itself,  but  also  on  those 
of  the  whole  surrounding  district.  It  should,  furthermore,  consider  rapid 
transit  needs,  and  the  width  of  the  thoroughfares  should  be  based  on 
future  rapid  transit  use.  Especial  attention  should  be  given,  also,  to 
designing  the  thoroughfare  system,  so  that  it  would  properly  serve  the 
rapid  transit  and  railroad  stations. 


74  FOttD 

When  we  come  to  the  minor  streets,  it  is  to  the  advantage  of  the 
City  that  they  should  be  so  laid  out  as  to  secure  every  advantage  that 
comes  from  natural  topography  and  so  that  they  would  be  peculiarly 
adapted  to  their  best  future  use.  Furthermore  they  should  be  designed 
with  a  view  to  their  conversion  to  a  more  intensive  use  as  the  City  grows ; 
and,  in  particular,  some  of  the  secondary  streets  should  be  designed  with 
the  idea  that,  at  some  later  date,  they  may  need  to  be  converted  into 
thoroughfares. 

Passenger  Transportation — The  City  already  has  a  wonderful 
transit  system  which  will  amply  take  care  of  most  of  the  needs  of  the 
City  for  some  time  to  come.  However,  there  are  a  number  of  sections  of 
the  City,  which  the  present  plans  have  not  taken  care  of,  and  it  is  desir- 
able to  study  the  fundamental  data  which  have  recently  been  collected 
on  the  distribution  of  the  life  and  activities  of  the  City,  in  order  to  round 
out  plans  for  transit  service  and  to  work  out  a  comprehensive  plan  for  a 
complete  transit  system  which  shall  correspond  to  the  probable  future 
growth  of  the  whole  City  and  the  surrounding  region.  In  particular, 
these  plans  should  co-operate  with  the  districting  work,  in  order  to  serve 
the  probable  new  needs  and  distribution  of  the  City's  activities. 

There  are  many  possibiHties  of  improvement  in  a  thoroughgoing 
co-ordination  of  all  the  services  of  the  various  transit  companies,  espe- 
cially at  the  express  stations  of  rapid  transit  and  railroad  lines.  There 
are  possibilities,  too,  in  designing  the  thoroughfare  system  of  allowing 
for  open-cut  railways,  which,  as  the  City  grows,  may  be  converted  into 
subways.  With  such  plans  developed,  it  is  possible  to  work  out  an  order 
of  urgency,  so  that  in  each  case  the  most  pressing  improvements  may  be 
carried  out  first. 

Freight  Transportation  by  Rail  and  Water — Rail  and  water  ter- 
minals have  been  located,  in  general,  where  their  owners  wished  to  locate 
them,  rather  than  where  they  would  best  fit  into  the  city  plan  and  serve 
the  needs  of  the  community  as  a  whole.  It  is  to  the  obvious  advantage 
of  the  City  to  determine  soon  the  best  economic  use  of  each  part  of  the 
harbor  and  waterfront  and  railroad  rights  of  way  and  to  decide  on  the 
best  sites  for  terminals  and  distributing  stations  of  various  kinds,  par- 
ticularly for  food  supply.  This  work  should  be  done  in  harmony  with 
the  districting  of  the  City  and  the  new  needs  which  this  will  probably 
bring  out.  Furthermore,  the  freight  handling  system  should  be  co-ordi- 
nated with  the  street  and  transit  systems  with  a  view  to  securing  the  best 
thoroughfare  and  transit  approaches  to  the  terminals  and  to  laying  out 
the  region  around  the  terminals  so  that  it  could  be  developed  hai-moniously 
with  the  latter.  This  subject  includes  a  study  of  the  whole  surrounding 
district,  including  the  Jersey  meadows.  It  would  probably  result  in  work- 
ing out  one  great  comprehensive  system  with  interconnecting  railways 


SUMMAEY    OF    CITY    PLANNING    NEEDS  "5 

and  witli  co-ordinated  classification,  shipping  and  storage  systems,  there- 
by obviating  a  great  deal  of  the  present  waste. 

Recreation — New  York  has,  at  present,  a  good  system  of  parks, 
but  they  are  very  unevenly  distributed,  and  there  are  large  sections,  par- 
ticularly in  Queens  and  Richmond,  that  have  almost  no  parks  available 
at  present,  to  say  nothing  of  the  future.  It  would  be  greatly  to  the 
advantage  of  the  City  to  determine  on  a  comprehensive  park  and  ]ilay- 
ground  system  for  the  whole  City,  locating  the  distribution  of  areas  of 
various  sizes  where  they  would  best  serve  the  probable  growth  of  the  City. 
Then  any  tracts  which  arc  peculiarly  suited  by  nature  or  availability  for 
park  or  playground  use  could  be  noted  and  an  order  of  acquisition,  based 
on  urgency  and  expediency,  decided  upon.  This  plan  should  be  co-ordi- 
nated with  the  plans  for  transit  and  thoroughfares,  witli  a  view  to  making 
all  areas  as  accessible  as  possible. 

In  connection  with  the  districting  and  subdivision  work  it  would  be 
desirable  to  determine  on  a  policy  for  the  use  of  the  centers  of  blocks  for 
common  recreation.  It  might  also  be  worth  while  to  work  out  a  plan  for 
co-ordinating  general  playgrounds  with  school  recreation  and  to  see 
that  both  co-operate  with  the  plans  for  the  development  of  neighborhood 
centers. 

Civic  Architecture  and  Landscape  Architecture — The  City  is  making 
a  splendid  start  toward  a  grander  civic  architecture  in  the  working  out 
of  the  civic  centers  in  the  five  boroughs,  in  the  great  plans  which  are  being 
worked  out  for  the  bridge  approaches,  in  the  plans  which  are  being  made 
for  the  grouping  of  various  institutional  buildings,  and  in  the  good 
architectural  quality  of  recent  street  fittings.  Much  remains  to  be  done, 
however,  in  the  carrying  out  of  these  plans  with  a  view  to  securing  a 
harmony  and  bigness  of  conception  that  would  look  forward  for  some 
distance  into  the  future.  The  location  of  all  new  public  and  semi-public 
buildings  could  be  studied  to  see  whether  they  would  not  fit  to  advantage 
into  !i  civic  or  neighborhood  center.  Much  could  be  done,  too,  in  the  way 
of  improving  the  landscape  setting  of  public  buildings  and  of  the  sti-eets 
and  thoroughfares.  Property  owners  could  be  encouraged  to  a  better 
architectural  treatment  of  their  buildings,  and,  in  particular,  much  could 
be  gained  by  insisting  that  all  structures  erected  on  or  over  public  prop- 
erty should  be  submitted  to  the  Art  Commission. 

The  Comprehe7isivc  Plan — The  City  needs  a  comprehensive  plan 
for  its  whole  physical  development.  All  of  the  matters  which  have  just 
been  mentioned  should  be  correlated  and  co-ordinated  in  one  complete 
scheme.  That  development  of  every  tract  of  land  should  be  determined 
upon  which  is  best  not  only  for  itself  but  for  the  neighboring  tracts  and 
for  the  City  as  a  whole.  Then  the  whole  circulating  system  and  the  lot, 
block  and  open  space  units  should  be  designed  so  as  to  secure  to  the  City 


76  FOED 

the  best  use  of  each  of  its  parts,  both  now  and  far  into  the  future.  The 
comprehensive  city  plan  should  not  stop  at  the  City  boundaries  but 
should  include  the  whole  commuting  belt,  so  as  to  bring  the  entire  region 
that  is  related  to  and  dependent  on  the  City  into  one  perfectly  co-ordinated 
plan. 


i.  B.  BROWN  PRINTING  &  BINDING  CO 


